


Organics

by inhaleegg



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: (smut in later chapters i mean), Humanoid, M/M, Smut, all will be explained in first chapter lmao, droids as humans, i mean theyre not humans theyre a different species but like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-09-23 21:11:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20346793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inhaleegg/pseuds/inhaleegg
Summary: Celestio Therren Threets (C-3PO), and his fellow Andorian counterpart, Artie (R2-D2), find themselves entangled in the battle against the Empire. Though unsure if they are able to survive the threatening landscape, they must persist if there is any hope for the Rebellion.





	1. Explanation

Henlo! I've been holding onto this gd story for so long, like I shit you not I've been writing on and off for about two years at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love R2-D2 and C-3PO as droids, but I really wanted to stretch my creative muscle and see if I could think up an alien race. I also wanted to see if I could force myself to abide by rules I make for myself instead of pre-set instructions lol, and I think it worked out okay. Here's some basic details on the "new" characters: 

Artie: quick-witted engineer with an obnoxious interest in mischief (4’11”), 70 yr old Andorian, brown curly hair, brown eyes 

Celestio Therren Threets: linguist and behavioral analyst, not entirely sure how he got roped into Artie’s shenanigans (6’0”), 67 yr old Andorian, light coily hair, gold eyes 

been know each other 32 yrs, but Threets only remembers 19 of em rip

(sidenote^ those notes were at the top of my google doc from the very beginning lmao, along with a really poorly put-together time scale of all the movies) 

I tried to figure out just exactly how long they would have known each other for, because of course if C-3PO is no longer a droid we can't have Anikin just like...creating a lifeform lmao. My story behind that is that Celestio is a slave along with Anikin and his mother, albeit older than the little squirt. Maybe he helped around the shop Anikin worked at, who know? Gets freed through shenanigans, I suppose. Now, Artie's backstory? I have no fuckin clue my dude, it's really up to interpretation. 

Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'all know how the first movie starts? Yeah, that

Celestio wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about, but nonetheless groggily began getting himself ready for the day. Day, of course, being used as a description of his typical working hours and not as a reference to any planet’s rotation, as being on a starship didn’t give one such luxuries as natural sunlight to wake up to, or any sort of regular circadian rhythm. He didn’t mind so much, he just wished for that blaring siren to stop, it was starting to make his head hurt. He donned his uniform and checked himself briefly in the low light of his cramped cabin. He stepped out of the door into…chaos. Ship personnel were running from place to place, red warning lights were flashing along the walls, making Celestio aware of the unease settling in his stomach. He stopped and gave a polite nod to the Head of Security as he passed, who returned it with a sharp bark to head to his battle station. 

“Right away, sir!” he swallowed through a suddenly dry throat. He’d thought he would be able to get a quick rest in before they had taken off, but as chance would have it he’d gone and had too much. He groaned internally as he flitted to the small tech room he had been instruction to go to during their many preparation drills, cursing himself for not setting any sort of timer to wake him up. Fiddling absent-mindedly with a stray cord, he sharply stopped as his mind filled with panic as he finally realized why he’d felt something was missing – Artie. Where was his engineer, his integral second half? Artie should have been there even before him, the engineering division was typically warned first. He wracked his brain trying to remember if his friend had been assigned to a different sector for minor repairs on the hull…? Maybe that’s what all the excitement was about, there was a breach in the hull and they just needed to patch something up and they’d be on their way in no time – 

C l u n k 

He froze. Immediately, he recognized the sound, knew it too well from being on the ship for so long – someone had docked with them. Or, more accurately, a ship much larger than theirs had pulled them in with its tractor beam and forced itself into the docking ports of his Master’s ship. That was it, the situation was officially far more serious than he had previously thought. He took a deep breath and steeled himself to disobey direct orders for the very first time in his career. He needed, he had to, find Artie. Immediately. There was no telling what the idiot would get himself into without Celestio’s interference. 

Walking through the doorway almost caused him physical pain; he had been told to go here, in fact had been ordered to stay, not only by a higher-up but the Head of Security. As he made his way through the busy hallways, he tried to convince himself that nobody would care to notice him because of everything that was going on. His anxiety didn’t care, though, and kept sending images of being fired without mercy as soon as someone saw him outside and shivered, closing his eyes for a fraction of a second. 

“Hey! Threets!” 

Celestio was shaken out of his daze as a short man barreled into him, looking uncharacteristically concerned. 

“Hey?” Artie snapped his fingers in front of Celestio’s nose with his grease-stained fingers, earning him a sharp glare. 

“Yes Artie, believe it or not, my senses have not dulled within the past 48-some-odd hours in which we have not seen one another!” Celestio said tersely, though awash with relief that he had found his friend, or that his friend had found him. 

“Just making sure, lordy…” he rolled his eyes. Yes, there was the Artie that Celestio knew, full of sarcasm and always knowing just how to press his buttons. 

“Wh – “ whatever Celestio had been about to say was cut off by another series of clunks from overhead, almost like raindrops. Heavy raindrops. He cast Artie a confused look. 

“We need to go.” Artie grabbed his hand roughly and tugged him towards the storage bay. He hadn’t been back on this end of the ship for a few weeks, and felt himself getting helplessly lost in the winding walkways. 

“Artie – “ he gasped as he narrowly avoided smacking head-first into a metal beam “Artie, where in the stars could we possibly be going? The ship is on high alert and we need to be in our stations! I suggest we – “ 

“No.” 

“What?” Celestio was taken aback. Sure, his companion was known for being one to, say, bend the rules a bit, but never had he seen Artie have a complete lack of obedience like this before. At least not that he could remember; Captain Antilles had always been very kind to them, and they’d had no incentive to act up. 

“No,” Artie nodded, hand now gripping Celestio’s wrist as he used his other to poke a sequence of buttons on a keypad “we’re taking a detour.” The door to the escape pod slid open. 

For the second time in the roughly half hour Celestio had been awake, his mouth went dry and he struggled for words. Was Artie suggesting…? He let out a small squeak, and looked over at his friend, who was looking at him impatiently. 

“Come on, get in!” Artie gave him a propelling shove and he stumbled into the mouth of the pod. 

“Artie, I – “ he swallowed “We’re breaking so many protocols right now, do you understand that? Do you know what the Captain is allowed to do to us if we leave, not to mention what ramifications we already face considering that we have, without clearance, opened and entered an escape pod?” he couldn’t read the expression on Artie’s face, and it scared him a little. He pursed his lips in an attempt to look formidable, “I will not be entering this pod with you, Artie. I will not break my protocol.” 

“Celestio,” Artie never used his first name in that tone, and the look he was giving was absolutely murderous “get in that pod or I’ll put you in there.” Standing at 6’0”, Celestio should not have found the 4’11” of rage that intimidating, but the glare Artie gave him made his stance waver. 

“Artie – “ 

“Do you trust me.” 

Celestio blinked. “Artie, I don’t – “ 

“You don’t trust me?” Artie raised an eyebrow at him, arms crossed. 

“I…” Celestio sighed. Artie had him, and he knew it; he would trust that man with his life, and he knew it. His shoulders dropped. “Fine.” 

Artie all but shoved him into the pod and plopped him down on a small seat as he hastily closed the airlock and prodded at the controls on the console. In the moments before being ejected, Celestio could have sworn he had heard the distinct clicks of blasters being set into position. He pushed the thought from his mind and turned to see Artie focusing on navigating them through debris. Despite his retaining annoyance, he still peered over Artie’s shoulder in curiosity. He knew the basic maintenance and construction of most spacecraft, but hadn’t the slightest idea where to begin piloting one. He huffed and supposed he should be grateful Artie was there. In fact he was, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it. He took his first real look out of the window, and saw his dear Master’s ship from afar, damaged beyond repair and docked with an imperial ship. Celestio shuddered and sat with his back to it. 

“We’re almost there.” Artie grunted out, swerving sharply to avoid a cracked part of ship. Which ship, Celestio couldn’t determine. 

“Almost where? I don’t see a suitable place to land anywhere, unless you are referring to that dust ball in front of us.” From his limited knowledge of this part of the outer-rim, Celestio could still come to the conclusion that Tatooine was definitely a last-case-scenario type of planet. 

“Yup, dust ball’s the goal,” Artie was sticking his tongue out in concentration, ignoring the small flashing light on the console “gonna be comin’ in hot.” 

“By the stars, you’re going to be the death of me!” He let out an exasperated sigh, knowing it was useless to try to persuade Artie to go somewhere else. And, really, where else could they go? It was either certain death by turning around and going back the way they came, or almost certain death on an unforgiving, scorched planet. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Artie waved him away with his hand. 

“You’re going to be the death of yourself, too.” Celestio grumbled as he found the buckle for the seatbelt on Artie’s chair, strapping him in awkwardly while Artie continued maneuvering around bits and pieces floating at them. Celestio sat down and secured himself, bracing for impact. Nothing ever went smoothly with that companion of his.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landed and stranded on Tatooine

Perhaps this was the day Artie had finally killed them both, the day Celestio would open his eyes and see…white? Heaven? Something, anyway. Something to let him know that he was, in fact, dead. But nothing came. 

Ah, yes, his eyes were still closed. He opened them a crack, and saw the interior of the escape pod, except…sideways? No, that couldn’t be right. Maybe he was sideways. Cold metal against his exposed skin and a groan from the lump beside him confirmed his suspicions that the landing had launched the two out of their seats and onto the floor. Aside from a few aches in his back, Celestio felt fine, however. 

“Artie?” Celestio forced himself up to his feet, fighting off a pang of nausea. 

“Mrm…” the lump groaned again, shifting around. 

“Stop that, you’ll make me worried.” Celestio bit his lip, resisting the urge to reach for him. Artie would probably make light of him for caring too much. “You’re not hurt, are you?” 

“No, ‘m fine.” Artie sat up and stretched, joints cracking. Celestio frowned, his friend’s joints should not be doing that. By human standards, 70 years was old. By Andorian standards, 70 years was just barely out of young adulthood. Artie caught his stare and shrugged, “I crunch, Threets. Jus’ do.” 

Celestio forced himself to let it go, and the two found their way out of the pod’s release hatch. He sucked in a dry breath, feeling a gritty film beginning to coat the inside of his mouth. He squinted at the two suns directly above them, attempting to figure out what time of day it was for the planet. Daytime, his mind supplied. Ah yes, of course. He gave a frustrated look more to himself than to the sand dunes, and supposed that if anyone had been there to witness him he would have looked certifiably insane. The sound of rippling fabric caught his attention, and he turned to see Artie tying his work jacket around his waist. 

“I suggest we try to find the civilization of this planet. I believe the correct course of travel to be…” Celestio gazed around, not finding any real signs of anything living among the mountains of sand. 

“North, we’ll go north.” Artie said, looking up from a gadget on his toolbelt. Celestio frowned. 

“And what makes you think that’s the correct way?” 

“Feels right,” Artie shrugged “c’mon.” he started off, beckoning his friend lazily without looking over. 

“Don’t you pull that ‘I just know because when I guess things they usually turn out to be right’ card!” Celestio huffed “I’m going to stay right here and try to figure out if I can’t find any hints as to where a settlement might be on this forsaken planet.” He firmly planted himself next to the crashed escape pod and stared indignantly at Artie, who had turned to face him. 

“Okay.” Artie turned back around and kept walking. 

“You get back here right now! You have no clue where you’re going, and I will not be the one explaining to Captain Antilles that you ended up dead on a distant planet all because you were too stubborn to listen to me!” 

“Yeah, okay,” Artie kept walking, tossing something small and metallic over his shoulder at Celestio “see ya later, then. Call when you wanna stop bein’ an ass.” 

Celestio stayed stock-still as he watched Artie disappear over the dunes. When he could no longer see the slight bob of his friend’s head, Celestio slowly walked over to the silver item and gingerly picked it up. A communicator. That little bastard expected him to give in and follow him, well he wouldn’t budge one meter! He would not, he would stay exactly where he was until something changed, hopefully something that let him know where the nearest, well, anything, was. 

Several hours into his pouting, Celestio wondered just how much his pride was worth. It was still just as hot as ever, and he was beginning to get thirsty, not to mention how incredibly bored he’d become.. He stood up from where he’d been perched on a protrusion on the pod and clicked the button of the communicator. No light or sound indication that it was receiving anything, or that it was even on. Still, it couldn’t hurt to try. 

“You win, you tiny pog-jumper, now let me know where you are.” Celestio began following the indents that Artie had left in the sand, thankful for the lack of wind. After a few minutes of silence, Celestio began to worry. “Artie?” 

Nothing. Some static, which assured Celestio the communicators were indeed in working order, but no response from his friend. After 20 minutes or so, he tried again. 

“Artie…I’m sorry, I didn’t really mean that. If you’re ignoring me, then…please don’t?” he admitted that sounded a tad pathetic, but then again he was on a planet he had close to no knowledge of aside from a basic grasp on their languages (gruff, survival-focused, primitive), and was not-so-subtly starting to panic. 10 more minutes of walking and Celestio was close to losing his mind. Sweat dripped from his brow, and his mind flitted to wondering if his dark skin would protect him from the rays of two suns. His rising panic pushed him back to thinking about how to find Artie. 

“I,” he cleared his throat “I am ready, in your words, to ‘stop being an ass’.” He didn’t like using such vulgar language, but maybe this was what would get Artie to finally respond. He stopped suddenly, as the footprints he had been following were no more. He examined the ground, many smaller tracks in different, frenzied directions, and the larger – comparatively, that is; they were still small to Celestio – prints of Artie shuffled around, some looked to have been scraped across the ground, and…dear stars, had he been dragged off? Celestio scrambled for his communicator, speaking frantically. 

“Artie, Artie please for the love of the Maker answer me this instant!” his stomach flipped as he heard his own voice from his left, coming from a small silver object hastily dropped on the ground. He fell to his knees in acceptance. This was it, this was how he would die. Alone, on an unforgiving planet, wondering if his partner had suffered the same fate as he. Perhaps he would – 

A thick blunt instrument connected with the back of Celestio’s skull, and he hadn’t the time to register pain before he fell face-first into the sand. 

Buzzing, everything was buzzing. Celestio groaned, and went to raise a hand to his head in an attempt to quell his budding headache, and was confused when he was unable to separate his wrists. Chains clanked and he opened his groggy eyes, suddenly very aware of a cold weight around his neck. He whimpered as he slowly realized what had happened. He, respectable chief linguist and member of the programming squadron of a rebellion starship, had been chained up and was going to be sold for labor on a gangster-controlled planet. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light of whatever vessel he was in, he caught the glances of other prisoners, all restrained like him and all with resigned expressions. Every once in a while, someone nodded to him in what he could only assume was sympathy. 

Their transport made a loud rumbling as it started to move, and Celestio had to grab at a wall to keep from toppling over into the person next to him. He turned to apologize, and almost wept for joy when he came face to face with a familiar mop of tousled brown hair. 

“Artie! Thank the maker, you’re alive! I was so worried, Artie, I really was, I’m so sorry I was – “ Celestio would have kept babbling if not for the look Artie gave him. “What?” 

“Nothin’,” Artie grinned at him, nudging him with his two bound hands “we lived, Threets, and we’re on our merry way.” 

“I wouldn’t say ‘merry’ fits at all.” Celestio grumbled quietly, able to go back to his normal self now that he knew Artie was well. 

Artie let out a small breathy laugh at that, and the two sat in silence awhile until the transport came to an abrupt halt. Celestio clenched at Artie’s shirt, stomach turning in knots. He shouldn’t be this nervous, they’d been in worse situations after all. Still, he couldn’t help the high-pitched squeak that came out of him as the wall across from them slammed outwards onto the ground. Harsh sunlight fell onto them, instantly turning the interior of their relatively cool transport into a simmering greenhouse. A group of roughly 6 small hooded figures shuffled in through the entrance, jabbering so fast Celestio caught only a few words; “sell”, “harvest”, and “shiny”. From the back of his mind, the species of Jawa crept up. Scavengers, a community or individuals built around finding and selling everything, anything they could get their hands on. He and Artie would undoubtedly be separated, he thought. His friend gave him a short squeeze on his wrist, flashing a small smile. Celestio wanted to smile back, wanted to be brave for Artie, but…he couldn’t find it in himself to. All he could do was swallow and nod, giving a squeeze back. More Jawas crept in, poking at a select group of people and droids, Celestio and Artie included. He hadn’t an idea what their methods of choosing were, or why they were getting out here when there was obviously no one around, but the sharp ends of the staff pointed at his back gave him motivation to keep going forwards. 

Celestio looked down the line of ‘products’; dusty droids, one or two humanoids, and a curious-looking…microwave? He stood at the end as instructed, and nervously rocked on the balls of his feet. He looked down and cursed the sand that his uniform was now filthy. He didn’t like the idea of being bought by someone, but if it meant being out of those horrid chains then he was willing to try anything. Maybe if he tried dusting himself off, he would look more inviting? 

A throat clearing caught his attention; a small group of villagers had gathered before the line of people and droids. They started milling around, inspecting. Celestio felt eyes on him, looking him over like an animal. He grew more uncomfortable as people periodically prodded him in the arm, on the shoulder, to see if he had the build they were looking for. He looked over at Artie, who seemed to be having trouble staying still, swatting at people who tried to touch him. He had a Jawa behind him, brandishing its weapon threateningly. Celestio sighed. His friend always had to make trouble for himself. He tore his eyes away as a man with scraggly facial hair approached him. His cloth was poor, with many patched-up holes and shoes barely clinging to life. He looked Celestio up and down for a few seconds, with an expression Celestio couldn’t quite decipher. 

“Your name, fellow?” 

“O-oh?” Celestio started at being addressed directly – in the past half hour, everyone else had talked about him but never to him. He straightened his posture and said “Celestio Therren Threets, sir. Linguist and behavioral analyst for – “ 

“Great, you’ll be coming with me. Been needing a translator for a while now,” if the man had noticed Celestio bristling at being called a translator, he didn’t let on. The man waved over a young man who was standing on the outer ring of the crowd, seemingly bored. “Luke, over here boy,” the young man, Luke apparently, trotted over, hands in his pockets. The man turned back to Celestio, “You speak Bachhi?” 

“Yes, sir, I have studied over two thousand – “ 

“That’s great. Know the binary processing language of moisture vaporators? Ours have been acting up and it’s almost the harvest.” 

“Yes, I…” Celestio trailed off instead of being cut off by the man again. “Yes.” 

“You’ll do fine, Mr. Threets. Luke, go and see if that R2 unit over there is decent, your aunt said we needed a mechanic. I’m going over to haggle. Take this man with you, he’s going to be our new translator.” 

Luke, who Celestio assumed not to be a day over 17, nodded and motioned for Celestio to follow him over to the small selection of droids the Jawas had set up, “C’mon.” he sighed. Ah, to be an adolescent again. Luke set to examining the controls and outer casings of the unit available. It was fairly beat-up, but appeared to be in working order save for a few sparks now and then. 

“Uncle Owen?” Luke shouted over to the other side of the crowd. 

“Eh?” 

“Unit looks in alright shape.” 

“How’s it move?” 

“Decent, I guess.” 

Celestio felt his neck begin to crick from trying to follow the conversation. It was like watching a bongie ball match. Luke started nudging Celestio and the droid over to the man Owen, and Celestio obediently followed, casting a worried glance at Artie who had suddenly become fascinated with his shoes. When they had just nearly reached Owen, the R2 unit burst into sparks and stopped moving, its lights going dim. Luke stood, dumbfounded. 

“Hey Uncle Owen?” 

“Eh?” he hadn’t looked up from the Jawa he was conducting business with. 

“It, the unit, uh,” Luke looked it over, running his fingers along the top of the R2 unit “looks like it’s got a bad motivator!” 

Looking up, Owen caught Luke’s glance before gazing at the now ‘dead’ unit. He turned back to have a few terse words with the Jawa, who’s eyes noticeably bulged in something adjacent to fear. 

“Sir, if I may,” Celestio said quietly to Luke, getting his attention “that man over there, he’s quite good with tools, a very handy one. If you need a mechanic, I would suggest him.” He finished, pointing to Artie. Luke squinted and followed his direction, shrugging. 

“Hey Uncle Owen?” 

“Eh?” 

“What about that one?” 

“Luke there aren’t any more units, this fellow here was just telling me – “ 

“Brown man with the toolbelt, Uncle, down on the end. Says he’s a good mechanic.” 

Owen picked Artie out of the line, the two making eye contact. Owen thought for a moment, as if his brain were chewing through tough leather. He exchanged words with the Jawa, who nodded enthusiastically and motioned for his comrades to bring Artie over. Owen opened his chit pouch and handed over his payment into the Jawa’s tiny outstretched hand. The creature counted, re-counted, and offered its other hand to Owen, handing over two large brass keys. Celestio’s eyes never left Artie as he was led over, seeming to almost growl at the Jawa with the spear to his back. 

“Sir, this is – “ Celestio began, before being cut off yet again by Owen. 

“Alright Luke, take these two back and have them ready for work by tomorrow. No outings until they’re ready to go.” Owen said sternly, handing Luke the two keys. 

“Fine.” Luke let the keys drop into his hand and led the two still-chained men off into an underground sand hut. 

The walls were packed tight, speckled occasionally with darker or lighter variations of sand. A bed lay against the wall, sheets rumpled, and scattered on them were what looked like articles carefully torn from news bulletins. A dresser sat against the joining wall, slumped forwards due to its missing leg, making the drawers jut out. Where there should have been a third wall was open and led to a side room full of wires and computer parts. Celestio assumed it was a workroom of sorts. 

“Here,” Luke said, motioning Celestio over to him. Unsure, Celestio made his way over. 

“Sir.” He bowed his head politely, hearing a snicker from Luke and looking up, confused. 

“Sorry, uh…Luke, it’s Luke.” Luke reached for Celestio’s wrists and unlocked his cuffs, which sprang off the big bit of metal around his neck as well. 

“I see, Sir Luke.” Celestio nodded, rubbing his wrists and relishing how much lighter he felt having them off. 

“Just Luke’s fine.” He laughed out, turning to free Artie from his bonds. “Didn’t catch either of your names earlier.” 

“Well,” Celestio stood up straight, as he had with Owen, and said “I am Celestio Therren Threets, and this is my counterpart, Artie,” he gestured accordingly “we come to you from the ship of Captain Antilles, chief linguist and primary engineer, respectively.” He puffed his chest out a little, finding pride in finally being able to finish his introduction properly. 

“Neat! So…what’re you both doing here?” Luke stuck his tongue out as he struggled with Artie’s restraints; the Jawas must have tightened them significantly. 

“Sir? You…bought us? That is why we are here.” 

“Luke,” Luke corrected “I meant…sounds like a pretty sweet gig, being under Captain Anthill or whoever, working on a starship…” Luke paused in fighting with Artie’s cuffs to gaze wistfully at a torn poster of a small space freighter hanging from the wall. 

“It was, until the goddamn empire caught up with us.” Artie grumbled, finally shucking off his cuffs as they sprang free with a clink. Celestio could see his neck was raw and irritated, but Artie couldn’t look less bothered by it. Luke shot up, nearly falling over. 

“You know of the rebellion against the empire?!” his mouth hung open as Artie nodded. 

“Yup. Barely escaped, lots of danger, woe is us, all that good stuff. Now, is there an Obi-wan Kenobi around here?” 

“I can’t believe – ! Wait, what?” 

“Obi-wan Kenobi. I’ve got something real important to give him. Urgent.” Artie thumbed something hanging from his belt. 

Celestio looked at Artie in confusion; they had never once been in contact with someone by that name. “Artie, what are you talking about? Did that thick skull of yours not protect your brain when we crashed?” Artie glared at him. 

“I don’t know any Obi-wan,” Luke scratched the back of his neck. Artie looked crestfallen. “But, there is this weird old hermit on the outskirts of town…Ben? Yeah, Ben Kenobi. Maybe a relative?” 

“Sounds perfect, when can we go?” Artie shifted impatiently. 

“What? Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, I’ve got to get the vaporators on board so you two are ready for the fields tomorrow.” Luke stepped towards the door, turning back. “Look…I’ll ask Uncle about it, but…no promises, okay?” Luke turned to leave right as Artie let loose a quiet ‘shit’ as something fell from his belt. The grey disc fizzled, buzzed, and a projection popped up. It was a young woman, about Luke’s age, in a flowing white gown. The recording was on a loop, with the woman saying ‘Help me Obi-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope…’ on repeat. 

“Mistress Leia!” Celestio gasped, looking at Artie. 

“That’s, ah, old data right there, just gimme a second,” Artie swooped up the projection disc. He fiddled with a few buttons, and the projection stopped “there.” 

“What was that?!” Luke looked shaken. 

“Nothin’, just some leftover data in there, don’t think about it.” Artie tucked it back into his belt. 

“It didn’t sound like nothing…” Luke said apprehensively “You know what? We can go out tomorrow for an hour or so to try and find this Kenobi, deal? She sounds like she needs help…” 

“Sounds good, boss.” Artie smiled as Luke hurried out. 

“What, in the love of stars, was that.” 

“What?” Artie said with mock innocence. 

“You know exactly ‘what’! We don’t know any Obi-wan Kenobi, I have never seen the Princess in that much distress, and you are being a complete….” Celestio wet his lips “Stop looking at me like that. You’ve gotten something into your head, and I’m going to end up having to save you from something like I always do.” 

“Usually the other way around, but okay.” 

“That was one time, Artie.” Celestio said indignantly “And, let me remind you, it was you who got us both into that situation!” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Artie waved him off, walking into the room full of wires and sitting down on one of two cots there. They looked hastily set up, though the dust on them let him know that they hadn’t been used for a while. “I’m pretty exhausted, you?” Artie lay down on his cot, making it squeak despite his small stature. Celestio sighed and curled up on the other cot, still trying to figure out what was his friend was planning. He didn’t like the way Artie was jiggling his foot, it was never a good sign. 

“Don’t…” Celestio yawned, sensing sleep was going to take him whether he wanted it or not. 

“Don’t what?” he could hear the smile in Artie’s voice. 

“Don’t…leave, Artie. I know you’ve got something planned but…” Celestio sighed into his pillow “don’t leave me?” he didn’t get the chance to hear Artie’s reply, or if there even was one, because as soon as he closed his eyes fully he was out like a light. 

His dreamless sleep was interrupted by a tugging sensation from his wrist. He opened his eyes to find it fairly dark outside. Stars, how long had he been asleep? He bolted upright, much to the surprise of Artie, who stumbled over with Celestio’s suddenly airborne wrist. 

“Mnm?” Celestio made a noise, still gaining his bearings. 

“Gotta go, now.” Artie whispered earnestly. “Come on, you said not to leave you here, right? Let’s move.” 

“We’re…what?” Celestio stared into determined, unblinking brown eyes. 

“We need” Artie pointed to the door “to go. Now.” 

“Artie…” Celestio wasn’t about to go out into the desert just before night with nothing but his uniform to protect himself, and stars forbid he let Artie go out there with his poor judgement and impulsive decisions. “I can’t.” 

“Threets, come on. This is our only chance; nobody’s around, we can make it if we go now.” 

“Artie…” 

“I’m not staying here forever, and neither are you. Come on.” 

“I can’t,” Celestio’s mind jumped to what had happened just earlier today when Artie had gone off on his own “and I can’t let you go, either. What if those Jawas are back out there? And who’s to say that there aren’t any dangerous animals prowling around? Artie, I can’t let you – “ 

“Either you come with me, or I’m going alone.” Artie said firmly. 

“You wouldn’t!” 

“I would.” 

They stared each other down, brown irises versus gold, until Celestio finally crumbled. 

“Fine then. Go.” 

Artie opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it. He silently slid out of the room, following the path up and outside. Celestio must have sat on his cot for a good forty minutes, staring at the doorway, waiting for Artie to step back in. The suns grew even lower in the sky, and Luke walked in looking tired from his day. Celestio flinched, which didn’t go unnoticed. 

“You okay?” 

“Yes, Sir – ah, Luke – I think, yes. Well, no.” Celestio took a shaky breath. “Artie has…gone.” 

“Gone?” Luke looked around, as if he could find Artie hiding behind the dresser or under the curtains. “Gone where?” 

Celestio gestured vaguely to the door, causing Luke to leap over to his dresser and rifle through a middle drawer. He dragged Celestio outside, now with a pair of thermal binoculars in his hand. Luke put them up to his eyes and scanned the horizon. 

“Nothing,” Luke shook his head “can’t see a sign of anyone out there, at least not within range.” 

“What are we going to do?” Celestio felt the panic rising. Stars, his companion was going to be the death of him. 

“We’ll…go out first thing tomorrow. It’s too dangerous right now, there’ll be too many sand people around.” Luke sighed. “Your friend’s causing an awful lot of trouble awfully early, isn’t he?” 

“Oh, he excels at that, Sir.” 

Sleep didn’t grace him, though he hadn’t wanted it to. Celestio had already had a solid rest earlier, and was too anxious to even think about sleep at the moment. Instead, he paced the room while his new master slept, worrying at his jacket sleeves. As soon as the first of the suns came up, he had to stop himself from immediately waking Luke up. Instead, he drew the curtains in the hopes that the sunlight would rouse him. 

It didn’t. 

He waited another twenty minutes for the second sun to rise, and still nothing but a small stir from his new master. He gently prodded Luke’s shoulder, only getting him to turn over to his other side. 

“Master Luke, we really should be going as soon as possible…” Celestio said, and Luke groaned. 

“Alright, I’ll be ready in a sec, just gimme a minute to get changed.” 

Celestio nodded and went to sit on his cot to give Luke some privacy. Several minutes later, however, he heard soft snoring coming from Luke’s bed. 

“Master Luke, are you sure you are awake?” 

“Mmmawmm…” 

He frowned, prodding the lump of blankets. “Come again?” 

“’M awake, ‘m awake…”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Tatooine shenanigans

They set out in Luke’s speeder, Celestio using the thermal binoculars to look for any small speck. They raced around the dunes until Luke heard a squeak of excitement from Celestio; 

“I think that’s him! Over that sand hill!” 

They sped around the hill, and sure enough there was Artie, looking ragged and tired but otherwise okay. He turned as they approached, grimacing. 

“Hey.” He said dryly, patting around for something on his belt. “I’d offer y’all some snacks, but I ran out. Want some wrappers?” 

“Artie, why must you always do things the hard way! Do I have to follow you around at all hours to make sure you don’t do anything idiotic? Stars, have you any idea how much trouble you’ve caused? I was so worried I couldn’t sleep, and – “ 

“You were worried?” Artie smiled coyly. 

“Of course I was, you imbecile! Now, let us take you back to Master Luke’s and we can – “ 

“Nope, I’m good.” 

Luke looked like he felt very, very awkward. It was hard to blame him, the two were arguing like an old married couple and Luke was the unfortunate third wheel. A distant shriek made them all start. 

“Sand people! Sounds like they might be far off, we – “ Luke yelped as a tall mass of tan robes and pointed club launched itself at him, sending him tumbling backwards. Another sand person smacked Celestio with its club, sending him over a small hill and into a pile of rocks. Artie scrambled under a small outcropping in the sand hill, staying deathly still and willing his breathing to quiet down. 

Artie watched as three sand people began shuffling towards Luke’s speeder, interested in its contents. A few minutes in, and a hooded figure crept up in front of the sand people, making a high-pitched whine that made Artie want to clap his hands over his ears. Evidently, the sand people didn’t enjoy the sound either, making a speedy departure. The figure went over to Luke and touched his forehead, seeming to say a prayer of sorts. Artie let out a sigh of relief when Luke’s eyes fluttered open – he hadn’t wanted the kid to actually end up hurt, after all – and immediately regretted it as the hooded figure turned to him. The figure tugged his hood down to reveal a face, older and more weathered than Artie remembered, but achingly familiar. 

“Hello there,” the man said in a friendly tone “come here, my small friend.” The man beckoned him forwards, and Artie tentatively obliged, unsure if he should say anything. He decided not to. The man caught his glance down at Luke, who was still flitting his eyes around and hadn’t gotten up yet. “Oh, he’ll be fine.” 

Sharp. Celestio’s back and right side was riddled with stabbing sensations. He managed to sit up with a groan, just in time to see Artie cresting the hill. Celestio didn’t have the mental capacity to figure out who the two figures behind him were, and gratefully accepted the hand Artie offered him. Though much taller than his companion, Celestio found Artie to be a downright convenient height for assistance in walking. He could extend his arm to a comfortable degree while still getting support in balance from a well-placed Artie shoulder. The speeder ride to Ben’s was silent, save for the directions Ben was giving to Luke. They arrived shortly, and once again Artie helped Celestio walk about. Celestio could feel his back becoming sticky with something, and sincerely hoped it was just sweat. 

“Artie?” 

“Mm?” 

“Is…is there any blood?” 

“Lemme check,” Artie felt around Celestio’s back, making him wince “it’s wet.” 

“How do you mean?” 

“It’s…wet. Y’know, opposite of dry?” 

“Yes I know that, but is it bleeding?” 

“Oh, lemme check,” Artie felt under Celestio’s shirt, making Celestio gasp out in pain. Artie withdrew his hand and licked it “yup, ‘s blood.” Celestio slumped his shoulders, and Artie patted his back “Don’t worry, we’ll get ya fixed up!” at Celestio’s yelp, he gave a pat on his shoulder instead of his back, mumbling an embarrassed ‘sorry’. They caught up with Ben and Luke at the door to Ben’s hut, and were all three ushered inside. 

“You are not here by happenstance, are you young Luke?” 

“No…as it turns out, this guy’s got something to show you, some girl saying she needs your help?” Luke looked over to Artie, who had sat on a wobbly bench. Artie nodded and pulled out the disc from before, pressing a few buttons before the full message started up. After the message played in full, an uneasy silence settled over them. 

“Luke,” Obi-wan started out slowly, mulling over his words, “what do you know of the rebellion?” 

“The rebellion against the empire? I know it’s been going on for a while, as long as I’ve been alive. Apparently these two have seen some of it.” Luke motioned to Artie and Celestio. Celestio shifted nervously as Obi-wan and Artie stared at each other for a tense moment. 

“Anything of before the empire?” 

“Something about a republic? I’m not really sure what happened with it, I just know it broke apart.” 

“And of jedi knights?” Obi-wan’s question caused Luke’s eyes to light up. 

“The peace-makers, defenders of the galaxy?! I heard they went extinct when the republic fell.” 

“Not extinct, but yes, there are very few of us left.” 

“Very few…’us’? Does that mean you…?” 

“I used to be,” Obi-wan corrected “not anymore, not since your father – “ 

“My father?! You don’t mean to say he was a jedi too? Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru won’t ever talk about him, they said he died on a mining ship and just leave it at that.” 

“Yes, he was a jedi, one of my pupils. He was a good student, and a good friend,” Obi-wan smiled at a memory, eyes turning misty. He coughed, shaking his head before speaking again. “Now Luke, you must understand that not every jedi turns out good. Some fall to the dark side of the force, and become one of the Sith. Your father did not die in a mining ship, he was killed,” he paused, noting the pointed look Artie gave him “by Darth Vader, another of my students. He was…seduced by the power the dark side gave him. He is now the head of the empire, after the emperor of course.” 

“What’s the force?” out of the millions of questions he had, Luke figured this was the one he needed answered first, to better understand everything. 

“The force is…well, like a life force, an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds us. There is a light side and a dark side. The light side is what a jedi strives for, to use and work with the force to create peace and coexistence between us all. The dark side, however, works off of greed, ambition, sorrow…it turns the greatest men into monsters.” His face grew sad as he finished. 

“What was he like?” Luke broke the long silence that had settled over them. 

“Hm?” 

“My father?” 

“Ah, yes, well…quite stubborn, I may say. He was a good man, he saved me from many perils, and was a very good companion on many adventures. As it so happens,” Obi-wan stood up and shuffled over to a drawer and lifted out a cylinder roughly a foot long, and handed it to Luke. At the questioning look Luke gave him, he explained. “It’s a light saber. Your father wanted you to have it, when you were old enough.” Luke pressed the button, jumping a little when a blue beam shot out from one end, making a beam of light about a meter long, which buzzed as he waved it around cautiously.   
“I would like to go and help this Antilles myself, but I’ve grown too old for this sort of thing. I could use someone with me who’s much younger, someone who’s reflexes aren’t impaired.” His eyes held an unspoken question in them. 

“I…” Luke looked out at his speeder “look, I’d love to help, but it’s just the start of the harvest, and…and I’ve still got this season to go until I can go to the academy…it’s all just so far away.” Luke sat down with a dejected sigh. 

“That’s your uncle talking.” Obi-wan sat down next to him “You must do what you feel is right, Luke. Do not let an old man convince you to get into anything you aren’t prepared for.” 

“I can…the farthest I can take you is Mos Eisley. You can find a transport there and get to that Alderaan planet, or wherever you’re going. I wish I could help more, but…” Luke stared at the ground.

“I will take you up on that offer, Luke. You are keeping yourself out of trouble, and I cannot fault you for that.” Obi-wan gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” Celestio said in a small voice, wincing as he moved “do you happen to have any bandages?” Obi-wan looked over at Celestio and Artie, seeming to have forgotten the two of them were there. 

“Yes, I do, sorry to keep you waiting, mister…?” 

“Celestio Therren Threets, linguist and – “ he stopped at the shooting pain in his back, most likely caused by his straightened posture. He nodded a thanks at Obi-wan handing him a rolled-up wad of bandages. The soft clunk of a small metal tin registered in his ears, labeled healing salve in spindly writing. 

“Why don’t you two stay here while Luke here accompanies me the Mos Eisley. I trust you won’t run off?” Obi-wan gave Artie a knowing look before departing. 

Artie wasted no time in trying to pull off Celestio’s upper garments, much to his surprise, annoyance, and copious amounts of stinging pain. 

“Ow, quit it! Slow down, you!” 

“Gotta get’cha cleaned up before anything gets infected, Threets.” Artie grunted, though slowed his pace and softened his movements. The jacket was off, next battle was the shirt. Artie stared, confused, when the shirt wouldn’t tug up from Celestio’s back. He knew Celestio’s uniform was different than his, but this was bafflingly difficult to remove. 

“Artie?” 

“Yeah?” Artie was still tugging and looking around Celestio’s back for clues on how to remove the shirt. 

“Buttons.” 

“Yeah I thought of that but there aren’t any!” 

“Good stars…Artie, they’re here in the front, you idiot. How would I be able to button it up myself if they were in the back?” Celestio was halfway through unbuttoning his shirt when Artie shifted around so that he was now facing him. “I’ve got it, Artie.” He said, then bit his words when stretching his arms for a lower button caused a twinge of pain from a particularly nasty cut. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve got everything covered,” Artie joked as he took over unbuttoning the shirt “just let me help this time, yeah?” Celestio had the urge to watch him for some reason, but again, moving caused pain and pain made for an unhappy Celestio, so he stayed with his head looking forward and his mind focused on the nimble hands going down his chest. His face grew hot as Artie accidentally brushed his skin with a calloused hand. Stars, it had been so long…a tug on his shirt brought him back to reality. 

“Ow,” Celestio winced as the shirt had to be pulled harshly off of a smaller cut “careful, Artie…” he was met with a soft ‘sorry’ from behind him and a gentle hand on his hip, warm and reassuring. Celestio leaned into the rare moment of intimate physical contact, not sure how he felt about Artie’s breath on his exposed neck.   
Finally, the shirt had been removed and was able to be tossed to the floor, much to Celestio’s displeasure. Though he knew the light grey garment was a lost cause, what with the blood stains and all, it still pained him to see it thrown so carelessly. Artie stood up and made his way over to the small nook off to the side, and Celestio threw him a quizzical look. He filled a bowl with murky water from a rusty tap, and hunted around a side counter for a cleaning cloth. 

“Might sting a bit, Threets.” Artie warned, squeezing the cloth into the bowl, saturating it in lukewarm water. He started with gentle wipes at the top of Celestio’s back, cleaning the now dried blood off of his skin. Celestio gripped the fabric of his pants, gritting his teeth as Artie passed over the larger cut. “Doing okay?” 

“Never been better. Please just continue along, Artie.” Celestio kept himself from making pained groans as Artie finished up, making a final sweep down his entire back. “Are they…deep?” 

“Nah, just on the surface.” 

“Okay.” Celestio let out a long breath, less of relief and more of that he had forgotten to keep breathing. 

“Not really sure what this stuff is,” Artie said, picking up the small tin of healing salve “but we’re gonna find out.” 

“Thank you, that is very reassuring.” Celestio said dryly, then gasped as a cool glob of something slid over his injuries. It was like a calming wave of relief, and he found himself leaning into Artie’s touch (not that he would ever admit to such a thing). He could no longer feel the stings of his cuts, just a pleasant soft tingling along his spine. 

“For fuck’s sake, Threets, raise your arms!” 

“Hm?” Celestio was brought out of his daze by Artie’s demanding tone. 

“Been tryin’ to get your attention for a full minute. Lordy. I’m puttin’ the bandages on. Raise your arms.” 

Celestio obliged, raising his arms and resting his hands on his head, allowing Artie to wrap the white strip of fabric around his torso. Looking down, Celestio thought he looked quite ridiculous all wrapped up like that. He supposed he would rather look ridiculous than be in pain, though, and so dropped the thought. 

“Thanks.” 

“For?” 

“This,” Celestio gestured at his abdomen “thanks for this.” 

“You’re my partner, I couldn’t not.” 

He debated whether or not to scold Artie on using a double-negative. Though not particularly frowned-upon, it was not the “proper” sentence structure, but then when did languages ever follow their own rules perfectly? Celestio tried to think of a language that did, with only a few variations of hand languages springing into mind. Double-negatives did hold a valuable communication value, and people had been using them for so long at this point that they should be considered proper grammar, so maybe it wasn’t – 

“You’re making that face again.” Artie chuckled. 

“What?” 

“That thinking face, I like it.” 

Celestio found himself lost for words and smiled stupidly into his lap. That was the closest his companion had ever come to paying him a compliment. The two sat in a thick silence as Celestio, who had become very aware of how very naked his upper body was despite the bandages, re-clothed himself. 

“Thank you.” He said finally, catching Artie’s mischievous eyes on him. “What?” 

“Who would’a thought someone who’s s’posed to be as smart as you…would get his ass handed to him by a couple ‘a pebbles.” Artie grinned at him. 

They spent a good while arguing after that, the awkward tension lifted. That is, Celestio addressing Artie in a very stern tone while Artie held back laughs. They were back to normal, the moment had passed, and Celestio let it slip from his mind. 

Surely it had been a one-off thing, he thought as he tore into Artie about ‘one does not control how one falls’ and such. Celestio stopped himself mid-sentence in seeing Luke and Obi-wan returning in the speeder. Luke’s face was pulled tight, and Obi-wan held a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, they…” Luke started, choking up. He took a shaky breath and nodded at Obi-wan, sitting down with a sigh. 

“They have passed on,” he said carefully “by the hands of Stormtroopers.” 

“You guys can come with us if you want. I’ve got nothing to keep me here now.” 

Celestio gaped, then quickly collected himself, “Sir, if it would please you, we will stay by your side.” Luke, still looking down, nodded. 

Obi-wan gently suggested they be off on their way, as the Stormtroopers might still be looking for Luke. They piled into the speeder, requiring Artie to sit partially in Celestio’s lap. The first seemed rather unbothered, comfortable ever, while the latter appeared quite unhappy with the seating arrangement, though he chose to say nothing of it. Pressed into the seat, Celestio had expected another round of shooting pain, but found only a few dull aches dotting his back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang's all here, minus Obi-wan (press f in chat y'all)

Obi-wan directed Luke towards a tavern, which looked absolutely wretched, and smelled about the same. A mixture of musk, cigar smoke, alcohol, and something sour spilled from the doors. Celestio made a face. 

“Mos Eisley cantina. Come Luke, this is where our pilot is to be found.” 

“This dump?” Luke said dubiously, stepping out of the speeder, foot narrowly avoiding a pile of Bantha droppings. 

“It is a vile, vulgar, disgusting place indeed,” he nodded “just the place to find a discreet, no-questions-asked transport.” 

“Maybe you two should wait out here, just in case…?” Luke said, turning to face Artie and Celestio. 

“Certainly, Sir.” Celestio said with a curt nod, shoving Artie off of him now that there was plenty room for the two of them in the speeder. Luke and Obi-wan made their way inside the building, getting a strange look from what must have been the bouncer. 

Celestio’s chest tightened as he saw a squadron of sand-stained Stormtroopers round the corner, stopping to question citizens about two brown-skinned ‘betrayers of the empire’. He silently willed Luke and the old man to come back out of the cantina, not saying anything to Artie aside from giving him a worried look. Artie didn’t look particularly bothered, though Celestio noticed he kept a tight grip on the projection disc clipped to his belt. Celestio held his breath as the Stormtroopers walked towards them in the speeder, with no tells as to their expression because of their helmets. One with an orange ranking mark on his shoulder started to say something to them just as Luke and Obi-wan exited the cantina. 

“Have you seen two…” the trooper trailed off, looking at them. They were indeed two men with brown skin, one rather tall and the other rather short, and the tall one was wearing the grey uniform they had been made aware of. Celestio’s breath caught when he saw the trooper slowly reaching for the blaster on his belt and raising his wrist to talk into a communicator. 

“Hello, my friends. What is it we can help you with?” Obi-wan said smoothly, gaining the trooper’s attention. 

“We’re looking for two men loyal to the rebellion. Let’s see some identification, there.”

“You don’t need to see their identification.” He said in a flat tone, making a strange hand motion Celestio couldn’t make sense of. The trooper straightened up at the gesture, dropping his hands. 

“We…don’t need to see their identification.” 

“These aren’t the men you’re looking for.” 

“These…aren’t the men we’re looking for.” 

“They can go about their business.” 

“You can go about your business.” The trooper said, turning to Artie and Celestio with a sharp jerk. 

“Move along.” 

“Move along, now,” the trooper said, waving them off “move along!” 

Celestio tugged Artie out of the speeder, following Luke and Obi-wan as they walked to a back hanger. 

“I can’t believe…I thought we were done for!” Luke exclaimed under his breath, following behind Obi-wan. 

“The force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.” Was Obi-wan’s vague reply, a twinkle in his eye. Reaching the hanger, they came upon a sturdy man in a leather jacket with a holster about his upper leg. He was barking orders at a large, hairy…thing. Celestio heard the creature make a series of guttural throat sounds, and placed him as a Wookie. From what Celestio could understand, the man’s name was Han. 

“Chewie, put that thing back where it was! We’re leaving soon!” 

Luke looked at the ship apprehensively, “Is this what we’re taking?” 

“Got a problem with it, kid?” 

“It’s a pile of junk!” 

“This here’s the Millennium Falcon, she’s more than just a pile of junk. Made the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. Respect her, she’s got a few surprises in there.” 

“Sure.” 

“Watch it kid. Keep insulting my ship and I’ll be happy to pop you out right near a supernova.” Han said sharply at Luke’s eye roll. “Now, if you all don’t mind, I’d like to get this road on the show.” He said, motioning them up the boarding ramp and into the ship. 

Celestio chose to take a seat on a strange circular bench surrounding a similar-shaped table. Artie sat next to him, still gripping the disc. With Luke, Han, Obi-wan, and Chewbacca crowded into the cockpit, they were alone once again. 

“Are there really…plans to an empire battle station on there?” 

“Yup.” Artie fiddled with it absent-mindedly. 

“And Mistress Leia? Is she…?” 

“I don’t know.” Artie let out a long breath and smoothed his hands through his head of curls, then smiled half-heartedly. “It’ll be fine. Everything always turns out, yeah?” he sounded like he may have been trying to reassure himself more than Celestio. 

“Yes…I think I,” he thought for a moment “yes, we should be at Alderaan soon, and our good Captain will surely know what to do.” He gripped his seat desperately as the ship began to move, slowly at first as it rose from the hanger, then steadily faster and shakier as it left the planet. Eventually, it steadied itself and set into a comfortable speed. “I hate space travel,” he mumbled, slowly letting go of his white-knuckle grip on the bench beneath him. He didn’t understand how Artie could stand to be inside those smaller craft, let alone having to fix the ship with enemies firing all around! 

At Artie’s eyebrow raise, Celestio realized he’d been staring, and quickly glanced away with his cheeks reddening. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it before the Wookie sat across from them at the table. Celestio shifted nervously in his seat. The creature made another of his noises. 

“Pardon me, but what game?” Celestio said, perplexed. He jumped only slightly as Chewbacca hit a button and small projections of monsters popped up on the surface of the checkered table. “Ah. That one.” Celestio silently slid back onto another bench, as Artie looked excited at the prospect of some fun, and Celestio…well to be frank, he was still wary of the Wookie. 

A few minutes in, and Artie was hooked. He and Chewbacca went back and forth in terms of points, a few minutes more having collected a small audience of Luke and Han, with Celestio peering over his friend’s shoulder. Chewbacca growled after a daring move from Artie put three of his monsters out of commission. 

“Don’t be like that, it was a fair play after all. Shouting about it won’t make you win, you know.” Celestio said, getting a deep growl from Chewbacca. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Han said from the wall he was leaning against, folding his arms. 

“What? Sir, nobody worries if an Andorian will get angry from a board game.” 

“That’s ‘cause Andorians don’t rip people’s arms out they sockets when they lose,” he looked at Chewie “Wookies’ve been known to do that.” He said with a smirk. 

“I see.” Celestio pursed his lips. He was fully prepared to tell Artie to let the Wookie win, when the game ended in a draw. Neither party seemed too happy about it, though everyone’s arms stayed securely attached to their respective bodies. 

“We should have about…” Han looked at a curious watch-like contraption around his wrist “32 minutes until we reach Alderaan’s system. I’m going to check on the controls.” He scanned the room “Don’t touch anything.” Han went back into the helm with Chewie, Obi-wan trading places with them. 

While Obi-wan had Luke practicing with his sabre, Celestio gingerly felt around his back to find that he felt no more pain. He watched with curious eyes at the swinging of the blue ‘blade’, following it with his eyes and momentarily forgetting whatever else he had been thinking on. Right, that was it, his back. He felt around again and figured it would be silly to leave the bandages on at this point, so found a sectioned-off joining room and disrobed (from the waist up, at least). He had just removed the last of the white strip, curiously finding no blood on it and a lack of gashes on his flesh, when he heard footsteps at the doorway. 

“Threets? We’re comin up on – “ he stopped at Celestio’s shriek of ‘great stars!’ “ – yeah you could say they’re pretty great I guess. Anyway, we’re fifteen minutes from Alderaan.” 

“Thank you Artie but as you can see I am very much not decent at the moment.” Celestio ignored the heat rising to his face, thankful for his darker complexion for hiding the majority of his flush. 

“Well do you need help getting dressed, or…? I really ain’t see your point here.” 

“Good stars, Artie, I am half-naked and three seconds away from smacking that grin off of your face,” Celestio hastily threw on his shirt, fingers flying across the buttons to get them fastened as quick as possible. 

“Oh, that’s what you were going weird about? We’ve known each other for at least, what, thirty-two years?!” Artie laughed, but turned around good-naturedly until Celestio finished dressing. 

“Thirty…two?” Celestio paused, faintly registering his mind trying to tell him something “My dear friend, it has been but nineteen years? Wait,” Celestio stood with one sleeve of his jacket on and did some quick mental math “yes, nineteen years, almost exactly. We met in that medical facility, just off Coruscant,” Celestio trailed off, lost in memory, not registering Artie’s nervous shuffling. 

“I remember, Threets. I was worried about you, y’know.” Artie said. He hid a hurt look at Celestio’s laugh. 

“About someone you’d never met? Artie, I never knew you had it in you.” 

“Yeah, well.” Artie huffed, crossing his arms. 

“I…” Celestio’s smile faltered. What had he said, had he hit a pressure point he hadn’t known existed? “Sorry, that came out rather rude. I do appreciate your concern.” 

“Mhm.” 

“Hey,” Celestio said softly, not knowing why what he’d said had the effect it had on Artie, but the Maker be darned if he wasn’t going to try and make his friend feel better. “In all our time together, I’ve seen how you can care for another, in your own way. It was wrong of me to say what I said, especially so because I did not mean it.” He approached Artie hesitantly from behind. Would he go in for a hug, a punch, keep up with the silent treatment? Celestio didn’t know what to prepare for. 

“Yeah,” Artie sighed, turning around to face him “I know.” 

They stood in the doorway for a moment before Celestio broke the painful silence. 

“It’s funny you should mention thirty-two years ago, though,” he started, Artie’s eyes flashing with hope “that’s the start of the, uh,” Celestio tried to remember what the droid-nurse had called it “fuzzy parts?” he frowned. That didn’t sound at all scientific. 

“Ah.” Artie had a hard time hiding the slump in his shoulders. “You mentioned. And you don’t…remember anything?” 

“I remember these…disconnected feelings, in a sense. Not much else. It still amazes me how thirteen years can just…though I suppose if it were important enough, I would be remembering it now. Right?” Celestio ignored the nagging feeling that it was, in fact, important information he was forgetting. 13 years was an awfully long time to not remember, even for a 67 year old Andorian with a long life still ahead of him. 

Artie, about to start by telling Celestio that wasn’t how memory worked, was cut off by a series of bumps against the ship. Were they being shot at, Celestio wondered as the both of them dashed to the cockpit. 

“ – damn planet’s gone!” Han was shouting angrily, flipping controls and punching numbers into a keypad off to the side “According to the ship’s navigation, it should be right damn near in front of us, but it ain’t!” 

“It’s been destroyed.” Obi-wan said in a tone Celestio couldn’t place, lips pursed. 

“You can’t destroy a planet!” Han scoffed, still flicking switches here and there to nudge asteroids out of the way of the Falcon. 

“Why don’t we land on that,” Luke squinted, looking out the viewport “that small moon over there.” Han, at his wit’s end, only nodded at him and set the course for the grey object. As they drew closer, an echoing shot bounced in the walls of the ship, getting a yelp from Celestio. 

“Fighters?? What are they doing way out here?” Luke exclaimed 

“Dunno, but they ain’t gonna be around long enough to tell us,” Han said, pulling Luke out of the cockpit with him, tossing him a headset “Chewie, make sure we don’t get fried!” he pointed Luke in the direction of a ladder with a nudge, following suit and settling into the second firing position. 

Chewie barked something into the microphone on the control panel, which was followed by a crash against the hull and a yell of “I know, I know!” from Han. Celestio gripped his seat as if his life depended on it, and it just as well might have for all the tossing and turning the ship was doing. He squeaked at the bright flash of one of the imperial fighters combusting directly in front of the ship, with an aftershock squeal as Chewie dipped the ship to avoid getting scorched. On the chair opposite, Artie seemed to be having the time of his life, eyes scanning over the control board and lighting up whenever Chewbacca pressed a button or flipped a switch. He had never seen a ship quite like this before, such a complete and utter mess, and yet…fantastically capable. A cheer from the other end of the ship let them know that the second fighter had been shot down. Artie made room for Han and Luke as they hopped back into the cockpit, all smiles and celebration. 

“Good job there, kid!” 

“Right back at ya!” 

Chewie yowled something at Han, pulling on a handle that would no longer budge. 

“What is it, buddy? Look, you’ve got it the wrong way, we want to be going towards the moon, not away from it!” Han’s voice dropped at the response growl he got “Whadda ya mean it’s pulling us in?” 

“It’s no moon, that’s a space station…” Obi-wan said, trailing off. 

“Too big to be a space station – “ Han started, freezing when he looked through the viewport “I’ll be damned…” 

“That’s it, we’re done for. We may as well explain to them what we’re here for, maybe they’ll – “ Artie’s hand shot out to cover Celestio’s mouth. 

“Shut up,” Artie said distractedly “have they seen us?” 

“They’ve got us in a tractor beam, of course they’ve seen us!” Han shouted, viciously trying to get the jammed lever to budge. 

“I mean have they actually seen us?” 

“The hell are you – “ 

“Us! Y’know, the living things on board this ship?” 

Han’s mouth quirked up in a smile “I see what you’re getting at...” he let go of the lever “Chewie, punch in autopilot, then follow the rest of us into the hold.” 

The group followed Han down the hall, Luke looking down quizzically when he kicked his toe into one of the floorboards, “What…?” The board popped up, and underneath was a spacious cargo hold. Smuggling hold, to be specific. The regular cargo hold was on the other side of the craft. 

“Everybody in, come on,” Han said, directing them into the hole. Celestio hesitated before jumping in after Artie and Luke, followed closely behind be Obi-wan and Han. Han waited by the entrance until Chewie made his way over and into the compartment, replacing the board and plunging them all into darkness. Celestio could feel a small figure to his left, probably Artie. He was comforted in knowing that his friend was so close, though it was little help in quelling the anxiety bubbling in his stomach at hearing the Millennium Falcon being led inside the behemoth space station and parked inside with a jolt. 

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath in the silence before the Falcon’s door slamming open and the slow clump clump clump of two sets of footsteps sounded through the ship. Hearing them come to a stop directly in front of the loose board, Celestio sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. He was going to die here, he was going to – 

A thunk, muffled yells, and two heavy thuds into the compartment startled Celestio into opening his eyes to see two imperial officers face-down in the hold with them, unmoving. Han and Chewie leapt out of the compartment to meet the two new pairs of footsteps shuffling into the ship, probably to investigate the ruckus. 

“You should put on their uniforms, it will help you to fit in out there.” Obi-wan said to Artie and Celestio. Artie had no trouble stripping down, Celestio on the other hand… “Hurry, my friends, quickly now.” 

Luke was helping Obi-wan out of the hold when Celestio took a quick look to his side; Artie was halfway dressed and he had barely gotten out of his pants. Panicking, he wiggled out of his jacket and shirt as well, throwing on the imperial uniform faster than he had ever dressed in his life. Fearing for his life won out against embarrassment it seems, and Celestio finished dressing just as second after Artie. They left the hold to find Luke and Han putting on Stormtrooper armor, with Obi-wan off to the side. Celestio didn’t want to know how they had gotten it. 

“Don’t you want any sort of disguise?” Luke asked Obi-wan worriedly, checking around to make sure no more troops would appear. 

“You don’t exactly blend in, old man.” Han added, putting his helmet on. 

“I will be fine. An old man wandering around is the least of their worries right now, I think.” Obi-wan replied. “In order for us to leave, I will need to turn off the power generators. Wait somewhere safe, I will be back.” Obi-wan turned to leave. 

“One of us could do it! I mean, like Han said, you do stick out a bit…” Luke bit his tongue as Obi-wan held up his hand, small smile on his face. 

“Luke, trust me. Take your friends somewhere safe. I suspect I may have some time finding the generators. Don’t get into too much trouble.” 

“Okay.” Luke finally nodded, and Obi-wan set off. 

“Oh, and Luke?” 

“Yes?” Luke looked up quickly 

“May the force be with you.” With that sentiment, Obi-wan turned and left with a soft swish of his robe. 

Celestio followed Luke and Han at a distance, not wanting to look suspicious, with Artie at his side. He froze as the two stopped, looking up at a control tower. Panic pooling in his stomach, Celestio prepared for the worst, casting quick worried glances at where Chewbacca was crouching behind freight boxes. He sighed in relief at Han and Luke shrugging up at the control tower and one of them tapping their helmet. With a wave from the person in the control tower, they made their way into a lift. Workers paid the two Stormtroopers, officers, and large furry animal no mind as they slipped into the hallway. Han looked around, waiting for a mostly clear hallway before knocking. What came next was something Celestio could only describe as the frighteningly magnificent reflexes of Wookies. With the control tower operator down, Luke and Han removed their helmets and sat down in swivel chairs. 

“Artie, what is it?” Celestio had noticed his counterpart dash to a computer and type vigorously, eyes frantically searching the screen for something obviously important. Finding what he was looking for, Artie jumped out of the chair and yelled in triumph, quickly being shushed by Celestio. “Someone might hear us, you buffoon!” He hissed at Artie. 

“She’s here, she’s here! Detention cell 2187, block AA-23!! Come on, come on, let’s go!” Artie was practically jumping up and down. 

“What’re ya talking about? Who’s this ‘she’?” Han said, looking out the window at his beloved ship, which didn’t seem to be in too bad a shape. 

“Princess Leia! We’ve got to save her!” Artie said, getting a gasp of excitement from Celestio. 

“The Princess? She’s here?!” Luke said, shocked, and joined Artie around the computer designating Leia’s cell assignment. 

“Hold on, who’s this ‘Princess’?” Han said from his chair, reclining comfortably. 

“She’s only one of the leaders of the rebellion!” Luke exclaimed “And she’s here, marked for execution. We have to save her!”

“Why?” 

“What do you mean, ‘why’? They’re gonna kill her!” Luke sputtered. 

“Better her than me.” Han spat, staying seated. Luke scowled at him, then slid over slyly. 

“Y’know, she’s rich…” 

“Yeah?” 

“Rich, powerful…look, if you rescued her, the reward would be…” 

“What?” 

“Damn well more than you can imagine!” Luke said, exasperated. 

“I can imagine a lot.” Han said grumpily, though unfolded his arms. 

“You’ll get it.” Luke caught Han’s expression “You will!” 

“Fine. Let’s go get this Princess and then get paid. What do you have in mind, kid?” 

Luke looked around “Um,” he located two communicators, picking them up and giving one to Celestio “you two stay up here, in case we need help, and Chewie let me just – “ Luke had been inching towards Chewbacca with a pair of cuffs when Chewie yowled and raised his hands threateningly. Luke stuttered and shoved the cuffs at Han, startled “Han, y-you put those on him.” 

They’d been sitting in that control tower for thirty minutes, with Celestio keeping track by the rotations of the troopers on the deck below them. He tapped on the communicator, bored and anxious at the same time. Artie was staring at the computer screen, unable to take his eyes off of the Leia’s cell assignment. Celestio figured he felt at least partially responsible for her capture. They were broken out of their respective distractions with the sharp rap at the control room door. Celestio leapt up and dragged Artie into the closet, maneuvering awkwardly to make it appear as though they had been locked in from the outside. This resulted in pinched fingers on Celestio’s part and an accidental elbow-to-forehead for Artie, but ultimately it didn’t look half bad. At least, that’s what Celestio hoped. They heard the door get blasted down, then a groan from the control room operator they had left on the floor. 

“Who goes there?” demanded a voice that sounded inside the room. 

“Please, sir, let us out!” Celestio banged on the closet door for good measure, while Artie just rolled his eyes “They’re madmen they are, going about with blasters and – “ the door was flung open, and the two tumbled out. “Thank you, sir!” 

“Which way did they go, private?” 

“They went…um…” Celestio lost his train of thought as a wave of dizziness came over him; stars, he hadn’t eaten anything substantial in a while. He found his eyes flitting down to meet Artie’s. 

“Down the hall to the right, sir. They were raving about some prison block, AA-23 if I remember correctly.” Artie supplied. 

“Thank you both,” the trooper gave them a polite nod “ensure this officer makes it to the medbay.” He signaled his squad to follow him down the hall, leaving Celestio and Artie alone with the officer Chewie had previously knocked out. Celestio and Artie exchanged glances. Celestio sighed and nodded, and Artie shoved the barely conscious man into the closet without much protest, save for a few incoherent babbles. 

“I think they’ve got themselves enough trouble in the detention block…maybe we should see how the Falcon is doing? That sounds safer, anyhow.” 

“Sure, just lemme roll these up real quick,” Artie leaned down to roll up his pant legs, which he had been stepping on and they had begun to impair his movement. 

“That’s hardly work-appropriate, Artie.” Celestio said through pursed lips. He found it rather cute actually, if he was being honest with himself. 

“You wouldn’t understand, with your long-ass legs on your tall-ass self.” Artie huffed, finishing cuffing the second pant leg. 

They stepped into the lift and pushed floor buttons at random until they got the right one. Dashing out, Celestio followed close behind Artie, who had spotted an unoccupied work station complete with computer screen and information port. He typed in a command of some sort, and a password screen popped up. Artie frowned, then reached into his belt and dug out a screwdriver. Locating a square of metal on the wall with scuffed markings on it, Celestio expected him to, as one normally would, unscrew the panel. Instead, Artie held the screwdriver in his hand and, pulling back, jabbed it into the panel until it swung open. He mulled over the wires inside for a moment, placing the screwdriver securely back into his belt. Celestio stood back, as this was far out of his wheelhouse of knowledge. Artie fumbled to tap a key on the computer, still looking intently at the wires. From Celestio’s eyes, there had been no change in any of the wires, but apparently Artie saw something he did not and dove for a slim white wire, attacking it with a pair of shears Celestio had not seen in his hands. The computer sputtered, the image on the screen distorting and pixelating in sections, then showing a diagram of the Falcon. 

“You never cease to amaze, my friend!” Celestio said, and Artie practically glowed at the compliment. “Is everything in working order?” 

“Lemme check,” Artie stuck his tongue out, which Celestio wouldn’t help but find absolutely adorable. “There’s a few things on here, looks like.” 

“How badly?” Celestio paled. Would they be able to make it out in their current ship? Perhaps they could hijack another one in here, but…

“Coupla dents, it’s leaking something I’ve no clue of, malfunctioning toilet seat…” Artie stared at the screen “did they really think that was important enough to put on a report??” 

“Artie!” 

“Right, actual problems. Mmm…” he tapped a few keys “There aren’t any other problems listed, but just looking at it from here there’s something sticking out that didn’t used to be there. Should probably have that checked out when we get back…” 

“What about Luke and the rest? Is there a way to find that out?” Celestio asked, and Artie stared back at him. “What?” he flushed as Artie took his hand in his “What are you…?” 

“Communicator.” Artie said, shoving Celestio’s hand at his face. 

“Ah.” He said dumbly, flushing more in embarrassment. “I am ashamed to say that I forgot to even turn it on…” he gently flipped the knob on the bottom of the device, and was practically blown back by the screech that emitted from it. 

“CELESTIO YOU BASTARD COME IN RIGHT NOW!” 

“Sir Luke! We were just wondering about you, are you all – “ 

“Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!” 

“I…are you alright?” Celestio looked to Artie, who was quickly going through the list of garbage chutes on the space station 

“We won’t be soon if you don’t turn this damn thing off!” came Han’s voice, farther away 

“Artie, shut down – “ 

“Got it, done.” Artie finished with a confident key tap. Screams came from the communicator, almost driving Celestio to tears. 

“Oh my stars…Artie, we’ve killed them! They’re dying in there and we weren’t fast enough! Oh, by the Maker, I should turn myself in right now…” Celestio babbled, not noticing Artie grabbing the communicator from him. 

“Y’all good?” he spoke into it, rolling his eyes at Celestio’s overreaction; they’d only almost been crushed to death. 

“Yes!! Thanks guys, just on time!” Luke laughed out, and what sounded like high-fives were heard on the other end “Now, open up the garbage door to…what was it?” Artie waited, hearing shuffling and sloshing “3263827!” Typing in the numbers as they were said, Artie did just that. They heard another round of cheers, this time joined by a roar from Chewbacca. 

“I suppose…we wait here for them?” Celestio questioned, getting a nod from Artie. 

“S’pose so, yeah.” Artie looked Celestio up and down “You could use a nap.” 

“This isn’t exactly the best place for one, Artie.” Celestio chuckled, though didn’t deny it. 

“Guess not, but still,” Artie scanned down Celestio’s body once again “you okay? You’re shaking a lil’ bit there.” 

“Oh, I hadn’t noticed.” Celestio sat down hastily. He had noticed, just hadn’t wanted to bother anyone with a problem as trivial as his blood sugar running low. “It’s nothing. Like you said, probably need a nap, haha.” 

“Ya got the thinkin’ face again, but it ain’t good this time.” Artie studied him for a moment “You sure you’re doin’ okay?” 

“Just tired, that’s all, nothing else.” Celestio was a terrible liar. He knew it and he knew Artie knew it too, and thanked the stars when Artie just sighed and turned back to the computer. 

Several minutes passed before a flurry of excitement caught their attention; a Han-sounding yell and the sound of about twelve blasters going off at once had Celestio smelling trouble. Miraculously, the Stormtroopers who had been chasing Han and Chewie peeled off in favor of going to the other side of the hanger; something had them distracted. Celestio didn’t care enough to see what it was, all he wanted was to get Artie and himself safely to the ship. Running out to meet them was a wide-eyed Luke, disgruntled Leia, and hollering Han, followed closely by Chewbacca, who flung himself inside to get the ship started as quickly as possible. Luke’s eyes drifted to where the Stormtroopers had been heading, and they bulged out as he whispered something that looked like ‘Ben’. Oh dear. 

“C’mon Princess, get in.” Han jumped to avoid a blaster shot, which Leia returned ferociously to the offending trooper. Han decided she was best left un-ushered, and so entered the ship by himself. Just as Celestio and Artie were boarding, they heard a pained scream from Luke; 

“BEN!” 

For Celestio, time sped up and distorted. Artie had ushered him into the ship and sat him down on a chair, and Leia had apparently done much of the same with Luke. Time then stretched out as the four of them sat in the main room for what felt like millennia. Celestio looked over to Luke, who was picking at the game table, murmuring something every so often along the lines of ‘I can’t believe he’s gone’, and that sort. 

“We’re in the clear, finally!” Han said proudly, stepping into the room. At the lackluster response, he grumbled out “Don’t everybody thank me at once, now.” 

“Have some compassion.” Leia snapped at him. Han, not used to being challenged, was taken aback. 

“Look, the guy’s dead. Sorry kid, it happens!” Han sighed at Luke’s noncommittal nod at the table (he hadn’t looked up). “Hey, come on now,” he shifted in discomfort with so many eyes on him “didn’t really know the guy, but he seemed real concerned about you, kid. He knew what he was doing, and he chose to give himself up so we could escape, right?” 

“I guess so.” Luke mumbled, looking up at Han. 

“Right. So, where off to now? I expect a reward for this, Princess.” 

“Yavin 4. We need to see these men safely delivered to the rebellion, as fast as possible if you please.” 

“Not like I’m in any hurry to meet up with the empire again, but why? Why’re they so important?” Han ignored a glare from Celestio 

“You’ve been carting them around the galaxy without knowing why?!” Leia said furiously and, at Han’s shrug, continued “Artie carries a memory chip vital to the rebellion. It may be just the chance we need to get our foot in the door.” 

“Alright, alright, fine, at least one of ‘em’s important, I get it.” Han rubbed the fingers of one hand together “And my reward?” 

“If money is all you wish, that is exactly what you will receive.” She bristled, brushing past him to give Chewie the proper coordinates. 

“She’s got a nasty bark on her, eh kid?” he turned to Luke, who only nodded. “Still...I imagine her bite ain’t as bad.” Han winked at him, causing Luke to flush hotly. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Han’s stare at the entrance to the cockpit said otherwise, Celestio noted. 

In short order, they arrived at the rebel base. Landing the Falcon proved moderately difficult due to the fact that the viewports were so high up on the ship, at least in comparison to the small x-wing fighters Han and Chewie were trying not to crush. He briefly registered the feeling of familiar fabric on his body, and figured that he and Artie had changed back into their old uniforms sometime during their travels to the base. He carefully leaned on Artie for support, seeing stars. 

“Hey y’all, we’ll catch up with ya!” Artie said to the group, holding up a struggling Celestio. Leia looked as if she were about to say something, but someone stepping out of a control room caught her attention and she turned instead to address him. “You need to sit down, Threets.” 

“’M fine, Artie, jus’ need…to go slow…” Celestio had to think hard to form a proper sentence, or any sentence at all really. 

“What you need is rest and something to eat. I’ve been with you for thir…uh, nineteen years, Threets.” Artie said sternly, forcefully sitting Celestio down on some hard surface and going off in search of a snack. Celestio sat and took in his surroundings, trying to hear what was going on. When Artie returned, he held a tightly-packed brown bar to Celestio’s lips. “Eat.” Celestio rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to take a bite. It was chalky and very salty, almost nauseatingly so. He wrinkled up his nose but kept eating it, knowing it’d do him good to have something in his system. When he finished, Artie handed him a beaten canteen of water. 

“Thanks,” Celestio said, taking a sip of lukewarm water. Compared to the bar, it was absolutely delicious. “Thank you. I can’t believe I still – “ 

“Need food and water like a normal living being?” Artie quipped 

“You know what I mean.” Celestio scowled. “I thought maybe since it hadn’t happened for a while, that it had gone away…the getting tired all of a sudden like that.” 

“Hey, it happens, no big deal.” Artie shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. Celestio frowned into his next sip of water. Artie just didn’t get it. Despite his body perking up, Celestio felt worse. He wasn’t sure how to describe his feeling…disappointment, maybe? 

“It is to me. I don’t work properly. I’m…defective.” Celestio said to himself, startled when Artie grabbed his hands. 

“Stop that! Listen to me Threets, listen good ‘n hard. You’re a damn brilliant man, noticing things about folks that I’d never think to look for! You know so much about so many languages and cultures it makes my head hurt! Stop putting yourself down!” Artie’s face was red with anger, his hands squeezing Celestio’s more than he’d meant. Celestio felt a tingling in his chest he’d never experienced before. Artie pulled him into a tight hug, and he also felt a frustratingly familiar sensation in his nether regions, but quickly forgot about it as he was overcome with emotion. Celestio couldn’t hold back the tears he felt welling in his eyes, and curled down to bury himself in Artie’s shirt. He sniffled, not caring that there were probably curious onlookers. He felt bad for making Artie a spectacle, though, and tried to quietly apologize. 

“Sorry...I…” 

“Shut up, you’re great and I’m trying to make you realize that.” Artie bit, hugging him tighter. “I’m here for you, okay?” Celestio nodded as much as he could manage with his head still tucked into Artie. He steadied his breathing and relaxed his shoulders a bit, willing himself to calm down. After he’d stopped shaking – he hadn’t noticed when he started – he tugged himself away from Artie. 

“…thank you. I mean it, thank you.” Celestio said, face growing hot thinking about what he’d just done. Artie was about to reply when his attention snapped to a figure beyond Celestio’s shoulder, beckoning them both into a half-circular room. 

“Gotta go, Threets,” Artie collected himself and stood up. 

“Oh…I suppose, if you must, then.” Celestio sighed. 

“What? You’re comin’ too, ya big idiot!” Artie said, taking him be the arm into the briefing room. 

After Artie handed the disc to a group of medal-laden persons, they stuck it into a download port and poured over the computer screen for a good hour before someone spotted anything; they had begun to lose hope until a smaller officer squeaked up “There! That exhaust vent!” Everyone sat up straighter in their seats, some craning their necks to try to hear what the commanders, generals, and other important folks were discussing. They all seemed to nod in agreement, and turned around to face the group of rebels. 

“Pilots, commanders, friends,” Leia started, a hologram of a large spherical battle station popping up from the table in the center of the room “there is a battle station, the Death Star, heading for us at this very moment. We have three hours to prepare.” Some of the pilots looked wide-eyed with shock, while a group of older fighters only stared on solemnly. 

“However, we have found a weakness in this battle station! If we can hit it in this direct spot, it will set off a chain reaction that will go straight to the station’s reactor core, destroying it entirely.” A white-bearded man took over, circling the table. “The target you must hit,” he said, pointing to a spot on the hologram, which Celestio squinted to make out “is two by two meters wide.” A few pilots groaned. 

“That’s impossibly small!” one of them said, crossing his arms, friends murmuring in agreement. 

“No bigger than those swamp rats back home, Dax, and we used to shoot those things for fun!” Luke said good-naturedly, getting a smile from the man who had spoken up. 

“The particle exhaust vent is ray-shielded,” the white-bearded man went on “so you will have to use photon torpedoes to penetrate it. Your X-wing fighters are equipped with guidance system computers to help you make the shot. We need to get moving within the next half hour; if you do not have an assigned ship, see me immediately. If you already know your ship and your copilot, be they droid or living, head over to it and we will help get you ready.” Luke looked back at Artie, waving with a small smile. What? Celestio’s mind struggled to process his stream of thoughts. “Good luck out there, pilots. May the force be with us.” 

In a flurry of motion, everyone got up from their seats and began fumbling around for flight helmets, flight suits, finding their copilots, etcetera. Celestio momentarily lost sight of Artie, who he found a minute later just outside the entrance of the room, talking with Luke. 

“Got the flight suit, and the breathing helmet, check, oh hey Threets.” Artie was halfway through zipping up his orange flight suit, of which the rebellion had miraculously had a small enough size. 

“You’re…” Celestio’s voice caught “going to be flying?” 

“Yeah,” Artie looked at Luke “well, no, Luke’ll be flying, I’m gonna be fixing. Y’know, for when we get hit or something goes wrong, stuff like that.” He finished zipping his suit, and put on his helmet, clipping it into the latches around his suit’s collar. 

“Ah, be safe out there, Artie. You too, Luke. I want both of you back in one piece.” Celestio said firmly, putting a hand on both of their shoulders. 

“We’ll be fine, Celest! Come on Artie, we should get the ship warmed up.” Luke headed into the maze of X-wings, Artie following behind. Artie turned back to look at Celestio one last time, giving him a wink and a smile. Celestio felt a tightness in his chest and sucked in a shallow breath. He found he didn’t want to watch them take off, if would only make him more nervous, and so turned around. Catching sight of Leia, he headed towards her. 

“Mistress Leia, would it be alright if I...assisted? In the comms, I mean. I am quite proficient in many languages and – “ 

“Yes, Celestio, you may.” she said, Celestio’s anxiety dimming a bit. 

“Thank you.” He bowed his head respectfully and followed her into the control room. 

There were several desks with see-through glass screens displaying different information; one for the fuel of each ship along with its status (standby, in flight, off), a split screen of the view of the horizon from the planet’s surface versus an in-space view of the planet, and one standing display where a timer had been set up. Each second ticking down made Celestio’s skin crawl, so he focused on the second standing display that was in front of him. The ships had all been tuned to the same shielded radio frequency, with each ship assigned its own identification code. Next to the code was a small box of text designating the individuals on the ship. Celestio searched one that wasn’t a droid-organic pairing, curiously finding one droid-droid pairing but not a single organic-organic pairing. Seeing an arrow on the bottom right of the screen, he cursed himself and tapped it, revealing an entirely new page of radio codes. He quickly found Luke and Artie’s ship, repeating the code designation until he had it playing over in his head. 

He got a thumbs-up from a commander in a headset, and at first Celestio didn’t know if it was directed at him or not, until the commander nodded and gestured for him to put on the headset in front of him. He did so, hands trembling, reading off of the square of notes he had been passed. 

“Base to squadron leaders, check-in please.” Celestio said, repeating it in another two common languages just in case. He made marks next to the list of leaders as they checked in, save for one. “Base to red leader, do you copy?” 

“Ready to rock ‘n roll, sir!” came a jolly-sounding voice. Celestio rolled his eyes and marked him on the paper as well. 

With another thumbs-up, Celestio went to the next command on the card, “Base to squadron leaders, you are clear to lead your team out of the base and out of the atmosphere.” A series of ‘copy that’s bounced around the headset. Celestio felt the rumble of the engines from the hanger, then the roar of the squad leaders taking off, closely followed by their respective teams. 

As he waited for his next thumbs-up, he took a moment to appreciate how concise the formatting of the comms list was; each leader was listed on top, with two rows beneath them for their team. Curiously, there was no ‘Rogue 1’, it jumped straight to 2. He shrugged it off; there were more pressing matters to attend to. An older woman took over the commands, directing the squadrons into attack formations and telling them which side of the planet the Death Star was going to appear from in reference to the base. 

“Stay low, and protect your team. Good luck.” She barked into the microphone. 

Celestio made the mistake of looking at the timer; they’d used up an entire hour already. He gritted hit teeth and turned back around, looking over the list of radio code designations again. He didn’t dare take his headset off for fear of missing an important command, and so sat through an agonizing few minutes of nervous radio chatter between the pilots and their teams. On the red team, he heard Luke’s voice cut through with encouragements, which lifted his spirits some. Without warning, a dead silence fell over the radio. Celestio glanced around to make sure his suspicions were true, and sure enough…the display of the planet now included the industrial grey exterior of the Death Star. He swallowed hard and worried at the hem of his jacket.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ngl, just wanted to write about life on the rebel base when they aren't scrambling for their lives (and also a scene thats like....debatably porn)

Celestio felt he’d almost had a heart attack when he heard over the radio that Luke’s ship had been grazed by a shot from a tie-fighter. He calmed down only a fraction when he heard Luke say something to Artie. That meant that both of them were still alive, at least for now. He pushed the thought from his mind, though, as he had been tasked with maintaining radio connections between the teams and their leaders. Gold leader’s radio had been having small hiccups from the beginning, and Celestio had ignored it in favor of other tasks, but now it had come back to bite them in the ass; the connection between the gold leader and their team had been severed. Not that it was entirely Celestio’s fault, though, as their ship had been hit in precisely the right spot to damage nothing but their radio. Thinking fast, Celestio tapped around the screen to see the code designation for gold leader and typed in a replacement that was one letter off. He held his breath as he spoke shakily into his headset. 

“Base to gold leader, come in gold leader. Repeat, come in gold leader.” 

“He – y, he – ar ya loud a – cl – r, base!” 

It was far from a perfect connection, but it would have to do. “Base to gold leader, connection received. Check-in with your team is suggested.” 

Celestio assumed the garbled reply was either a thanks or an acknowledgement, and turned back to the screen to check the designations of other ships. He frowned at the screen; so many ships’ radio codes had gone blank. He poked around, trying to see what the problem was, until he tuned his headset to the blue team. He heard a scream and shortly after, another radio code went blank. Oh, oh stars… Celestio watched in horror as more and more radio codes turned blank, sitting back in his seat in disbelief. He steeled himself and turned around to look at the count down, and…his stomach flipped. 

Ten minutes. 

Celestio was just about to have a talk to himself about not crying, when a loud patch of static and a triumphant yell almost caused him to thrash off his headset. Wait, he knew that ye-haw! 

“Hey kid, looks like ya could use some help down there!” Han said, blasting off the tie-fighters on Luke’s tail. 

“Han!” Luke’s voice sounded of pure joy. 

“The one and only! Now let’s destroy this thing, yeah?” 

Celestio didn’t bother turning around, he knew it would only upset him. Instead, he focused on staring at Luke and Artie’s ship marker on the screen, willing it to stay lit, hoping against all hope that the radio designation would stay there. Two tense minutes later, the older woman from earlier talked into the comms; 

“Luke, you turned off your navigation? Are you alright?” 

“Don’t worry, I’m alright!” Luke replied, sounding at ease. 

Celestio couldn’t help himself. He turned around to see the timer, and saw an ominous ‘30’ blinking at him. 29, 28, 27… 

“WHOOHOO!” Luke’s loud whoop combined with Han’s happy shout made Celestio jerk the headset off of his head out of shock. From the display of the planet, he watched the Death Star be peppered with strange bulges, then explode out. He leapt out of his chair and cheered along with the rest of the control room, relief washing over him. 

The hanger was a blur of excitement; the few pilots that returned practically leapt from their ships, Luke included. Celestio ran over to congratulate him, then turned his focus to Artie, who was being helped out of his seat by two medical staff. Despite the gash on his eyebrow, and bruises that were revealed when he slid out of his flight suit, he was all smiles. 

“Artie! My stars, look at you!” Celestio rushed to prod at him out of concern “You’ve got a head wound, bleeding no less! Tell me, how many fingers am I holding up?” 

“Two, Threets.” Artie rolled his eyes. 

“See! Something’s wrong with you! I’m holding up…” Celestio looked at his hand “oh, no, that is in fact two.” Artie snickered. “You should still rest though, you were just out in space for stars sake!” 

After a brief celebration among the pilots, and a few short medical checks, everyone was gathered and instructed to gather up their equipment to meet on another planet. 

“Through this victory, we have bought ourselves more time to plan our strategy against the empire,” the older woman from before began, followed by a few cheers and whoops “but in doing so, have made the empire aware of our location and firepower. We must disperse to another location immediately. We must…” Celestio felt bad for not paying attention, but couldn’t help himself from focusing on Artie. Did that mean he had to watch his friend get back into that X-wing? He shivered, not knowing if he could handle it a second time. Even without the empire currently breathing down their necks, the thought of Artie climbing back into that cockpit filled him with such dread that it showed in his expression. Artie raised an eyebrow at him, catching his gaze. Celestio looked to the side quickly, embarrassed at being caught staring again. It was hard not to look at the mess of curly brown hair, it stood out so well in the crowd. Or maybe because it was that Celestio was looking for it. Either way, he kept finding his gaze being drawn to the small Andorian. 

Safely on the rendezvous planet, Celestio followed Leia out of their transport. They had been the third to arrive, the path being paved by a much larger ship that was now orbiting the planet, hopefully well-protected by its gravitational shield. He breathed in a lungful of fresh air, glad to be on solid ground once again. He stepped back to allow a team of people carrying heavy equipment pass by. Taking in the scenery around him, he wondered why the planet had never been given a proper name until he remembered that it was uninhabited, save for plants and an unimpressive array of bacteria, and much too far into the outer-rim to be worth exploring. It was quite beautiful, really. The star it circled cast a blue light onto the surface of the world, bathing it in a calmness that Celestio couldn’t pin a feeling to. He looked up to see a few smaller craft entering the atmosphere, his heart leaping as he spotted Luke and Artie’s X-wing carefully circling for a spot to land. 

With all of the ships either landed and lined up neatly or set into orbit around the planet, the tone of the base felt astronomically more relaxed than the last. Celestio made a quick round through the makeshift hanger – the easiest option at the time had been a natural cave on the planet’s relatively hilled surface – checking to see if Luke and Artie might still be in the X-wing. They weren’t, which disappointed Celestio, though when he turned to leave the cave he felt himself smile at how strange the Millennium Falcon looked surrounded by X-wings, Y-wings, and various other small fighter ships. In his mind, he compared it to seeing a mother gordon with her group of 100-some kits around her. The thought made him chuckle. 

He marveled at how quickly the rebellion had been able to erect such an impressive structure into the side of a small cliff (no higher than 100 meters). Though fairly unkempt-looking, it seemed sturdy enough. He saw a curious series of shapes in the metal exterior, and wondered if unlucky ships had been kept for building materials. He supposed it only made sense, many cultures throughout the history of the universe repurposed fallen structures and vehicles for their materials, and especially since the rebellion wasn’t in the most desirable position to be ordering mass quantities of building metals, he could only assume that – 

“Heya Threets!” 

Making a strangled noise, Celestio spun around to see Artie walking towards him, bandage around his head. 

“Like my new headband?” Artie joked, pointing up at his head with a laugh. 

“How are you feeling? Is it deep? Please tell me they gave you something for the pain if it’s causing any, I don’t want – “ 

“Threets, relax, it’s a tiny scratch.” Artie patted Celestio’s arm and used his other hand to pull down his bandage, revealing a small line, dotted with three silver staples. “See? Nothin’ to worry about.” Artie refrained from telling his friend about how the skin pulled painfully whenever he blinked, or that the medical staff had given him a lecture on how ‘if it had been a centimeter to the right’ bla bla bla. 

“Fine, yes I suppose it looks smaller than it did covered in blood.” Celestio sighed, and Artie put the bandage back into place. He stifled a yawn, raising a hand to his mouth and stretching his back up a tad. 

“You look like you could still use that nap,” Artie commented “and ‘s a matter ‘a fact, so could I. I think they’ve set up some cots and mats in the far side of the base. Wanna go check ‘em out?” 

“That would be wonderful, Artie.” Celestio said, following Artie inside. 

A moderately-sized room, stuffed full of mats and cots, spread before them. The majority of the cots were occupied by exhausted pilots and control room personnel. Had he been more awake, Celestio may have insisted on searching for an unoccupied cot. However, in his current sleepy state, he allowed Artie to lead him over to a mat. Artie sat down with a soft pomf into the mat, and after settling in some, patted the spot next to him. It took Celestio a moment to realize that meant he should also sit. 

“O-oh, right,” he awkwardly crouched down and sat next to Artie, cheeks reddening at the chuckle from Artie “you stop that, I – “ he cut himself off with another yawn, only getting another laugh out of Artie. 

“You gotta sleep, Threets.” Artie said, re-positioning himself on the mat so that he was laying down, with Celestio closer to the edge. “C’mon, lay down,” he said, patting the mat again. Celestio grumbled and stretched out on the mat, laying down comfortably next to Artie. “Good boy.” Artie said playfully in his ear, causing Celestio to shiver and immediately turn a brilliant shade of red. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the spark of pleasure he felt at being called that. He shifted, trying to find a position far enough away from Artie, who was all over the place. 

“Artie, stop wiggling like that, I’m trying to get some rest.” Celestio whispered, not wanting to disturb the rest of the room, which was filled with nothing but q few quiet snores. 

“What?” Artie wiggled again “Just trying to get comfy. Guess I need an anchor or something, maybe…” Celestio felt arms wrap around him from behind, and tensed. 

“Artie…” he whispered in a warning tone. 

“Hey, I get it, if you don’t want it I’ll stop,” Artie’s grip loosened. 

“I didn’t say that…it’s just…” 

“Just what?” Artie started removing his grasp, and Celestio made an involuntary whine. Artie chuckled and put his arms back around his companion. 

“Ass…” Celestio mumbled sleepily, finding the dim room and warm body pressed against him quite soothing. 

“What about my ass?” Artie asked, a laugh in his words. When he didn’t get a response, he tapped his friend lightly “Threets?” measured, heavy breathing let him know that Celestio had fallen asleep. He smiled to himself and cuddled up closer to Celestio, relishing in his small victory. 

Awaking slowly to find something warm against his chest, Celestio nuzzled into it, not sure what it was but whatever or whoever was very comfortable to hug. 

“Hey Threets, you awake?” 

“Mrm…” Celestio mumbled, pulling Artie closer to him. 

“Not really an answer, but I’ll take it.” Artie said, leaning into it. To pass time, he began tracing shapes on Celestio’s back with his fingers. Nothing in particular, just basic shapes. 

Celestio shifted at the new sensation, still not fully awake. Artie switched to sliding his short nails along Celestio’s torso. Celestio let out a short gasp, then a shiver. His groggy mind was in overdrive, trying to remember where he was and who he was with, and why their hands felt so damn good. 

“Now who’s the wiggly one?” Artie said softly, slowly drawing a few fingers from the bottom of Celestio’s torso and up his side. 

“Nnn…” Celestio moaned softly, taking a moment before realizing what had just come out of his mouth. His gold eyes shot open to meet deep brown ones, their owner with an amused smile on his face. 

“What was that, Threets?” Artie repeated the action, loving the way Celestio bit his lip to keep from making another noise. 

“Nothing…just waking up.” Celestio breathed out, eyes fluttering closed. Stars, why did that feel so nice, and from Artie of all people… 

“Could it be, Celestio Therren Threets, chief linguist and behavioral analyst aboard Captain Antilles’ lead ship…moaning?” 

Celestio squirmed, focusing on keeping the mewling noises in, and shook his head vigorously. 

“Hm, that’s what it sounded like to me…guess not, though.” Artie traced his fingers up Celestio’s other side, making him squirm and moan out again. 

“Ar-tieee…” Celestio whispered, burying his face in his companion’s neck. He didn’t care if Artie teased him about it later, he just needed to feel that again. 

“Yeah?” Artie stopped his movements, breathing into Celestio’s hair. 

“Please…” his cheeks reddened even more at how easily it came out of his mouth. 

“Please what, Threets? I ain’t doin’ anything.” Artie chuckled as he slid a hand under Celestio’s shirt, making him shiver and scoot that much closer to Artie. 

All Celestio could do was push into Artie, for fear he would make too loud of a sound and wake one of the others that were sleeping in the room. 

“Again, not an answer,” Artie said softly, beginning to trace shapes into Celestio’s bare skin at an agonizingly slow pace. 

“By the stars, Artie, if you don’t go faster I just might explode.” Celestio panted out, arching his back when Celestio took all five fingers and slowly dragged them down the length of Celestio’s back, causing him to bite back a moan yet again. Within minutes, Celestio was a trembling mess in Artie’s hands, breathing hard and as quietly as he could, making high-pitched squeaks he hoped wouldn’t be enough to wake anyone. He had his eyes squeezed shut, though if he guessed he would say Artie’s face would portray that of someone who was having too much damn fun teasing him like that. 

Right when Celestio felt he couldn’t take any more, Artie stilled his hand and withdrew from under the shirt fabric. Celestio blew out a sigh of relief, relaxing the muscles he hadn’t even realized he’d been tensing. Despite however many hours he had been sleeping, he now felt exhausted. 

“Ya like that?” 

“I…” Celestio relaxed into Artie, who had moved himself to be hugging Celestio from behind, as per how they had fallen asleep. “…yes. Stars, yes, Artie…” 

“Good to hear, Threets.” Artie hummed happily, settling himself against Celestio’s back. 

“Just…Artie?” 

“Hm?” 

“Don’t…” Celestio worried at the hem of his jacket sleeve, closing his eyes “don’t tell anyone?” 

“Never’d dream of it, Threets,” Artie said, giving Celestio as much of a pat as he could, given their position “unless ya wanted me to.” His wink was lost on Celestio, who was facing the other way. Artie figured that, had he seen it, he would’ve gotten an eye roll and a blush. He made a mental note to say something like that again in the future. 

Celestio woke with a start, making Artie grumble at him in his sleep. He patted himself, feeling the buttons on his shirt clack underneath his fingers, running clammy fingers through his blonde coils. He sighed and looked around, eyes adjusting to the darkness. Evidently, the sun had set since he and Artie had fallen asleep. He looked towards Artie, eyes closed and mouth drawn into a serene smile, looking as if he had not a care in the world. Celestio felt his heart swell, and frowned. Ever since Coruscant, he found rare moments where he couldn’t remember what was real and what wasn’t. For example, one time during an excursion of a highly sophisticated nature, he had gotten a foggy image of Artie (his new companion) in his undergarments, looking quite smitten, and promptly excused himself so he could take a few minutes of deep breathing in the washroom. Looking back, Celestio still couldn’t fathom what had gotten into him. After all, he had only just met the man at the time. Still, a stubborn portion of his mind insisted otherwise, but what did it know? He and Artie had been work companions for 19 years, and that was that. Celestio groaned silently to himself, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, so gathered himself and trod outside. 

The temperature outside differed greatly from inside the cave, a fair few degrees cooler (though it felt even more so due to the wind). No light shone from the heavens, only pinpricks of far-off stars. Celestio looked up and wondered if that meant no moons, or perhaps that, if there were any, they were in the wrong orbit to be seen? Perhaps they were waning too fast for his eyes to see, the tiniest of slivers in the sky that his eyes wouldn’t allow him to comprehend, maybe. 

Sitting down on a rock, he plucked a blade of teal grass from the ground. Its leaf was robust, and rough to the touch. He momentarily though about putting it in his mouth, but shook his head and let it fall to the ground. Looking back up at the great expanse of space, he thought back to what had happened earlier that night. Or if it had happened at all. 

Not that he was the sort to keep his head in the clouds, per say, but he often lost focus, which was usually enough for him to misremember things. Celestio wasn’t sure how he felt about his little mischief-making companion. Yes, he held great affection, but never in his 67 years had he loved another in a sense other than mutual respect and friendship. The world of relationships was lost to him. As a behavioral analysis, he understood all of the mechanics and how to help others navigate romance and/or sexual situations, but he had never experienced it for himself. He shivered, thinking about the way Artie had made him feel. Stars, he’d never had sensations in quite that way before. 

A moist sensation on his fingers made him look down to notice that, as he’d been lost in thought, his hands had taken it upon themselves to pull up and rip apart another large blade of grass, causing viscous blue-green juices to seep over them. Slowly, he released hold of the grass and looked around for somewhere to wipe his hands. He decided to go with more grass; surely they wouldn’t mind? 

“…Threets?” a sleepy voice from behind him said, making him jump “What’re you doin’ out here?” 

“Nothing in particular,” Celestio said, turning to see Artie standing by the mouth of the cave, rubbing his eyes “and I could ask you the same thing, my friend.” 

“Woke up, took a leak, saw you weren’t there, went lookin’ for ya.” Artie said, yawning every few words 

“I see…well, you have found me, and I am unharmed. Perhaps you should go back to sleep?” 

“You’re not comin’ too?” 

“No, I…found I couldn’t sleep well. I’ll be fine, you go ahead and rest.” 

“M’kay, suit yours…” Artie cut himself off with a yawn, waving a hand at Celestio and making his way back into the cave. 

Celestio tried to get himself comfortable on the rock he was still sitting on, to no avail. He kicked at the dirt in frustration, tiredness creeping in. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep, it was that he didn’t want his brain to lie to him anymore. He felt like he didn’t have any say in what he was able to remember, which he figured made sense, but it felt like…his own brain was against him. It kept showing him things that he just didn’t want to see, that he wasn’t prepared to see. He was quite happy with where he was; he had a stable friendship with Artie, thank you very much, and didn’t want scenes of eroticism to taint that. 

Besides, with the waking up suddenly and Artie acting not at all bothered by anything, he was convinced that what had “happened” earlier in the night was a figment of his imagination, his mind playing a cruel trick on him. A few tears slid down his face, falling onto his uniform jacket in scattered splotches. Is there any way to fix this? He wondered, having been outside so long that he was now beginning to see the brilliant colors of sunrise before him. Probably not. 

“Stars, I’m such a mess.” He whispered to himself, laughing quietly through another stream of tears. He couldn’t tell what he was feeling anymore, he just knew he wanted it to stop. Sliding down from the rock, he hit the grass with a dull thud, landing on his knees. He sat, crouched, for a while, wondering when he had become so pathetic. 

“No, I’m not pathetic, I’m just…” he sighed to himself and watched the blue sun raise over the horizon “…not quite right.” He leaned his head against the rock, taking in the view sideways. He watched a cloud of insects flit from one patch of grass to another, seemingly never tiring. 

Had he been too aggressive with Celestio, Artie wondered? Had he maybe gone a little too far? But, he remembered, Celestio had said he wanted it, and that he liked it, and Artie had been all too happy to give Celestio those lovely touches, and yet…Artie was unsure. He had an uneasy sleep the rest of the night. Waking up at the planet’s midday, he noted that Celestio was still gone. He got up along with the rest of the pilots and rebellion forces, some of whom traded places with exhausted-looking folks that Artie figured must be the night shift. As he exited the cave, he saw a familiar shape, though more horizontal than he had left it. 

“Hey, Threets, time to get up.” He said, walking over and nudging Celestio with his foot. 

“Hm?” Celestio blinked slowly a couple times, not being able to focus with the sun so high overhead. 

“There ya go, he lives! If ya wanted to sleep outside, you just could’a said so.” He said, pulling a dazed Celestio to his feet. 

“Wha...?” 

“You, fell asleep, outside.” Artie said dully, pointing at Celestio and then to the ground. 

“R-right,” Celestio said shakily, still finding his bearings “so, about last night, I…” 

“Feel asleep on the ground?” Artie supplied, laughing and leading him to the more structured portion of the base. 

“Oh…yes, that.” Celestio swallowed the rest of his words. He had wanted to ask about that moment of intimacy, but…given Artie’s answer, he sadly confirmed to himself that it had in fact been just a trick of the mind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aye here's the actual porn lmao

Somehow, almost three years had gone by, and the base had been moved around several different planets/planetoids in that time. Celestio marveled at how fast the rebellion was able to rebuild every time, and not just their structure. New members were brought onto ever sector, and the injuries from a sprinkling of minor battles seemed to all but disappear. Except, it seemed, with Artie. Every day, Celestio would greet him and notice that scar above his eyebrow. Faint, yet very much there. It was becoming of Artie, he thought, though it made him worry for the future. If Artie stayed as daring as he was, past experiences pointing to that being mighty likely, Celestio worried about what else would happen to his friend. 

Celestio stepped outside of his small room – which he was quite thankful for, even if he did have to share it – and wandered out to see where he might be needed. The base had been rather quiet for some time, the captains and admirals in their meeting rooms, for the most part, trying to decide what the next move would be. He shivered, buttoning up his uniform jacket against the cold of the corridor. Despite the rebellion’s best efforts to keep the base insulated, the snow and ice of Hoth always had a way of slowly creeping back in every time a new layer of protection was added. Celestio made his way to the main hanger, hoping to find Artie and keep him company as he worked. Rounding the corner, he spotted a pair of stocky legs poking out from under a ship. 

“Artie?” Celestio tried to lean to see under the ship, only succeeding in losing his balance and making an awkward half-step to catch himself. 

“Heya Threets,” Artie’s voice echoed against the metal underbelly “hand me that wrench?” 

“Yes, the uh…” Celestio looked at the array of tools strewn around, none of them looking remotely like a wrench. 

“Top of the wing, I – ah shit – ow!” a small spark and a clunk against the body of the ship made Celestio jump, momentarily forgetting about what he’d been doing. 

“Artie??” 

“Wrong plug, uhhhhhhh gimme that yellow-handled screwdriver how ‘bouts?” Artie let out a stream of quiet curses before Celestio wordlessly slid the screwdriver to the hand Artie had poked out. “Thanks.” After a few minutes of nothing, Artie emerged from under the ship, grinning and covered in oil stains. “The piece of shit is now a piece of not-quite-shit! Now, that Millennium Falcon’s a whole different can of wriggling womps, got all sorts of things wrong with it. Don’t even get me started on the damn hyperdrive motivator, that thing’s on it’s last legs. I don’t even know how it’s still running,” he rambled, peeling his shirt off and tying it around his waist by the sleeves. 

“Artie, it’s freezing, how – “ 

“Not for me! Hot as hell under those things, especially with all them sparks.” 

“I suppose.” Celestio had to keep himself from staring at Artie’s chest. He wasn’t particularly toned, but working on various mechanic projects for what must have been the past few hours had given his chest a nice sheen that Celestio found himself being drawn to every couple of seconds. 

“Wanna go get some food? I’m starved. This thing’s gonna need some more work later, though.” He said, gesturing with the screwdriver he still had in his hand. He looked at it and snickered. 

“What?” Celestio raised a brow, folding his arms defensively. Artie hadn’t caught him staring, had he? 

“Nothin’, just that,” Artie looked between him and the screwdriver “you handed this to me, so you…screwed me!” he laughed and put the screwdriver back where it had been while Celestio struggled to find words. 

“Don’t be so crass!” his brain decided for him, which he thought a good choice. However, his brain had also decided to direct quite a bit of blood to his cheeks, which he very much hadn’t approved of. 

“Just messin’ with ya.” Artie winked at him, stepping closer. “Unless, ya want to, that is.” 

“What?” Celestio was sure he had misheard, and his heart skipped a beat as Artie reached for his hand. 

“There’s nobody around right now, Threets. We’re completely alone…” Artie stared into his eyes, and it struck Celestio just how wonderful they were to look at. “Threets? You been starin’ for a while there, bud. You good?” 

“Yes! Fine! Yes, I…” Celestio tried to plan out what he was going to say, cheeks only growing brighter at Artie’s amused expression. “Stars help me.” Acting on impulse, Celestio shot his hands out and grabbed Artie around the waist, pulling him in with more force than he had meant to. 

“Woah there, partner!” he felt Artie laugh, their faces mere centimeters apart. 

“Sorry, sorry, just…” was he excited? Nervous? Unsure? Celestio came to the conclusion of ‘yes’. 

“Threets, you’re fine.” Artie said breathlessly. “One could even say you’re damn fine, if you get what I – “ 

Celestio cut him off by pulling Artie imperceptibly closer and placing his lips on his. It was a chaste kiss, not very deep and not very long, but it sent Celestio’s head spinning. 

“Damn, if that’s how you shut me up from now on, I’m game.” Artie smiled at him, squeezing his side and making him squirm a little. 

“That was okay?” Celestio said self-consciously, a nugget of doubt still in his mind. 

“Threets, I’ve been trying to get you to do, well, anything, ever since Tattooine.” Artie sighed, thinking back to when they’d met. Not that Celestio would remember, he thought bitterly. It hadn’t been his fault, it hadn’t been anyone’s fault his memory had been busted, but…fuck. Nope, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. Not now, not ever, not when he had Celestio by his side. 

“Oh…good to know.” Celestio said, resting his chin on Artie’s head. 

“Hey,” Artie said, causing Celestio to look down. With a quick move of his hand, Artie pulled Celestio down by the collar and collided their lips together. 

Celestio was having an absolutely wonderful time. Artie, being Artie, had taken the lead and for once Celestio couldn’t find it in himself to care. Warm hands trailed up and down his spine, causing him to shiver. Plump lips slid against his own, and a strange invader that Celestio registered as a tongue was slowly roaming the inside of his mouth. He felt Artie pulling away, and while he didn’t want the lovely feeling to go away, he also could use a moment to breathe. 

“Good?” Artie asked, and all Celestio had the brainpower for was a nod. “Wow. I didn’t actually expect…wow.” Artie rubbed the back of his neck, then wiped a smattering of sweat from his forehead. “Look at you, getting’ me all hot ‘n bothered.” Artie joked, getting a small laugh from Celestio. 

“Not so bad yourself.” Celestio managed, taking Artie’s hand in his. 

“Listen, I’d love to go further, but,” Artie’s stomach saw its chance to shine, and growled loudly “yeah, that. Let’s go get something to eat?” 

Celestio let himself be led by the hand, enjoying the feeling of something so warm being so close to him. He’d be content if they stayed here for a while longer. 

On the walk back from the dining hall, Celestio noted how Artie kept looking behind them. As they passed the door to their shared quarters, Celestio felt a firm hand on his back and let out a small squeak. Artie turned him around quickly by the arm, and they both slammed into the metal door with an echoing thunk. Celestio’s face heated at the pointed look Artie was giving him. 

“Artie?” Celestio managed to ask, looking down. Artie responded by pulling Celestio down by the shirt and kissing him with bruising force. Celestio instantly wrapped his arms around his smaller companion, leaning into Artie with every breath he took. 

“Try…to…open…” Artie mumbled against his lips, feeling around the door with one hand while the other one moved up and down Celestio’s side. 

“What?” Celestio gasped out as Artie suddenly switched to attacking his neck with quick nibbles and hot strokes of his tongue. 

“Door.” Artie found the handle and clumsily pushed Celestio in, almost forgetting to kick it closed before shoving Celestio onto one of the beds. 

“Ah! Stars, Artie, you could’ve just asked me!” 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Artie grinned at him, tossing his shirt in the vague area of the other bed. He made his way on top of Celestio, carefully straddling him about the waist and causing his flush to creep up towards his forehead. 

“I – ah – don’t know?” 

“Oh, what was that, Threets?” Artie said, grinding down a fraction. 

“Noth – nng – ing! Stars, Artie!” Celestio couldn’t help the squirms or the noises that were coming out of him, he was completely at Artie’s mercy. And he absolutely loved it. 

“Does somebody like having someone on top of them like this?” Artie brushed a hand down Celestio’s side, making him shiver. “Hm?” Artie began the task of unbuttoning Celestio’s shirt, reminding himself that yes, the buttons were on the front. 

“I, I don’t…mind it, ah…” Celestio gasped at the cool air hitting his chest, looking to the side in embarrassment as his nipples became painfully erect in a matter of seconds. Another gasp spilled out of him when Artie ducked his head down and started lapping at the exposed chest before him, making his way over to a nipple. “Aaah, Artie!” 

“Mm?” Artie looked up to meet his gaze, tongue still extended and flicking over the hard nipple. Celestio bit on the inside of his cheek to keep from letting out another moan, but was ill-prepared for one of Artie’s hands to snake its way up his torso and pinch the remaining nipple. 

“Mnng!” Celestio had been aiming to get a word out, and unfortunately lost concentration and eventually his train of thought as Artie resumed tormenting him at full pace. Celestio found himself involuntarily curving his back to push up into Artie more, moaning every time their crotches met. 

“Does somebody want more?” Artie ground down into Celestio and placed his lips back on his partner’s for a quick but deep kiss. 

“Stars, Artie, yes!” Celestio groaned out. 

“Mm, I love you sayin’ my name like that.” Artie purred in his ear, giving it a lick as his hands made their way down to palm Celestio through his restricting pants. 

“A-ah! Noted, nng,” Celestio thrusted up into the touch, getting a chuckle from Artie. 

“We got an eager one here, eh?” Artie pressed down harder, pulling a louder moan from Celestio and another longing thrust. “Who would’ve thought you’d be so slutty, Threets?” Artie tugged the man in for another kiss to drown out his squeal of protest at the remark. 

“I-I’m not…! Ohhh, stars Artie, right there…!” 

“I dunno, you’re actin’ pretty slutty ‘n desperate right now.” Artie brushed over Celestio’s trouser button, beginning the motion of undoing it. He felt Celestio freeze in his arms and stopped immediately, looking down worriedly. “Threets?” 

“Sorry, it’s just…a lot, a little too quick, I…” Celestio fumbled for words, not wanting to ruin the moment, though not wanting to go any further until they’d talked through their feelings for one another first. He closed his eyes and waited for Artie to say something to him about being a prude, or being too scared to try anything new, or – He stopped mid-thought as a warm hand entwined itself with his. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Artie’s gaze softened and Celestio let out the breath he’d been holding in “I love you, I won’t do anything you don’t want, okay?” 

“You…what?” Celestio blinked, processing and repeating the phrase ‘I love you’ in his head. 

“You heard,” Artie said, appearing suddenly shy “I love you, Threets, have for a while, and – “ 

“I love you too!” Celestio blurted out, chastising himself for how awkwardly it had come out. They stared at each other for a moment before Artie slowly lowered himself to be more on top of Celestio, joining their lips once again. Artie cautiously wormed his hand back down to caress the bulge in Celestio’s pants. 

“This okay, Threets?” 

“Yes…Artie, keep doing that – nng!” 

Artie didn’t need to be told twice; he held Celestio’s cock through his trousers, and slowly rubbed up and down the length of it. Hearing a particularly strained moan from Celestio when he got to the head, he chose to focus mostly there. 

“Artie, yes, stars yes – ah – nng – Artie, keep – ah!“ Celestio, Artie quickly found out, was quite loud in the bedroom. He didn’t care much, in fact he found Celestio’s noises of pleasure to be more of a turn-on than he had thought. 

“Hang on, let’s go back to...mmmn that’s real good, right there.” Artie withdrew his hand from Celestio’s crotch, and replaced it with his own achingly hard one, the new friction making them both moan. 

“Arr – tiee…” Celestio disliked how whiny he sounded, but stars did he need Artie to keep doing whatever he had just done. 

“Mhm?” Artie rubbed himself against Celestio at a steady pace, making the man beneath him squirm with pleasure. 

“A-artie, mnng, faster, please!” Celestio begged, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hold on for that much longer, especially with the way Artie was grinding down on him. Artie obliged, putting more force into his hip thrusts while speeding them up, panting hard. 

“Fuck, Threets, I – “ 

“A – r – t – ie!” Celestio braced himself against the flimsy headboard, gripping the sheets tightly in his fists. He came hard and fast, soaking the inside of his trousers in the white goopy substance. Artie followed shortly after him, gasping out and hugging him close as he rode out his orgasm. 

“Damn, Threets, that was…fuck.” Artie said, still regaining his breath. He leaned his head up to give Celestio a peck on the cheek, then laid back down beside him. They lay there for a few minutes, bathing in the afterglow of much-needed sexual release. 

“Artie?” 

“Hm?” 

“We need to do that again. A couple more times, even.” Celestio managed to get out, tucking his body against Artie’s. 

“Fuck yeah we do.” Artie let out a small laugh, petting Celestio’s head absent-mindedly. After a pleasant cuddle, Celestio’s mind turned to worrying about his duties for the day; not that he had all that many, his mind just liked having a reason to be concerned. 

“Artie, maybe we should be getting back. Stars knows how long we’ve been sitting here, and – “ 

“I’ve already finished for the day, ‘n nothings happening ‘round here ‘cept Luke and Han going on their little expedition.” Artie yawned, tucking his arms around Celestio, who sighed when he remembered how Artie had mentioned something about needing to continue working on that one ship. 

“Fine, but we’ll only sleep a few hours. I’ve barely been up, you know.” 

“M’kay, sounds good.” Artie already had his eyes closed and had nestled into the standard-issue federation pillow. 

“Stars help my poor mangled sleep schedule.” Celestio grumbled, slowly succumbing to tiredness and falling asleep in Artie’s arms.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud City seems lit

Several hours later, a loud rapping at the door jolted Celestio awake, who jabbed Artie in the side until he too woke up. 

“Either y’all in there?” came Han’s muffled voice. 

“Both of us, yes.” Not a moment after the words had come out of Celestio’s mouth, the door swung open and there stood a wild-eyed Han. “That was not an invitation, Mr. Solo!” he exclaimed, hurriedly scrambling to cover his bare chest with the blanket. 

“Don’t care. Have either of you seen Luke?” 

“Nah, we’ve been uh…” 

“Again, don’t care. Damn…” Han ran a hand through his hair and let out a short, frustrated breath. 

Celestio took Artie’s arm to peer at his watch, “Is he not back yet?” 

“Nope. Went to check out some sort of meteorite four fucking hours ago, ain’t heard from him since. Artie, I need you to configure the life-detection sensor to do some checks on the surrounding snow mounds.” Han didn’t wait for them to answer; he closed the door and went back the way he came. 

They dressed in silence, both lost in their own trains of thought. Making their way to the main blast doors, Celestio felt the mood of Echo Base shift. Earlier, there had been pilots and techs goofing around in the halls, and jokes coming from the control rooms. Now, though, the hall only amplified the sound of their footsteps on the unforgiving concrete, everyone they passed had a grim expression upon their face. Word had obviously gotten around that one of their most influential members had vanished into the below-freezing terrain. 

“Hey, where’s Han off to?” Artie addressed Leia, nodding to Han’s figure mounting a grumpy taun-taun. Artie thought they suited each other. 

“He’s going back out.” Leia said through tight lips, eyes switching between watching Han leave and the sensor to her left. 

“Out…there?” Celestio said nervously, gesturing to the open blast door. Leia nodded. 

“There was mention of some sort of life-detection sensor, I believe.” Artie interjected, still concerned about Han, but more so for Luke. 

“Right, yes. We’ve got it up and running, but this cold isn’t letting us get the best readings off of it.” Leia guided him over the life-detection sensor, which would have stood no more than a foot off the ground had it not been on a table. It appeared to be an oblong sphere with a flat bottom to sit upon, with a collection of knobs and buttons along the side. It had been turned on indeed, and was displaying a blip on the screen, which was moving at a relatively slow pace. Artie figured that must be Han and his taun-taun. 

“Nothin ‘cept Han. Lemme try…” Artie fiddled with some of the knobs, getting a feel for how the machine worked. He managed to extend the range fairly far before the screen blinked and reset itself. Artie frowned. “Might take a while, folks.” 

“There is nothing to be done except wait.” Leia said, defeated, sitting down on a bench. 

And wait they did. For minutes, then an hour, two hours, and more. 

“Ah! Got it!” Artie popped up and slammed the door of the machine closed triumphantly, turning the thing on with a vigorous button-push. The screen slowly brightened to a soft glow, displaying a number across the screen. “No, damn you, not the fucking temperature!” Artie angrily turned a red knob on the side, causing the temperature reading to disappear to be replaced by a grid. “There we go, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Artie chastised the sensor, giving it a light bap. 

“Any readings?” Leia walked over to see the screen “There’s us, Echo Base, on the bottom of the screen…what scale is it presenting?” 

“Should be at a kilometer per centimeter, fanning out at an angle of 60 degrees from here.” Artie said proudly, standing up a little taller. “Although, the readings get more fucky the farther out ya go, y’know snow and everything. Harder to penetrate and get a proper read.” 

“Thank you.” She said, looking over the screen for any sign of life, the faintest of dots. Nothing. Celestio noticed her stop, think for a moment, and go over to have a hushed conversation with one of the admirals. Celestio caught a bit of the conversation, though even if he hadn’t he still would have been able to assume; the sun was setting, the temperature was steadily decreasing, and the blast door technician kept glancing over at her supervisor worriedly, finger poised over the button panel. 

“Fine.” 

The blast doors began inching towards one another with a loud, long squeal. Celestio had never been much for following a religion, but he hoped that if anyone – or anything – was out there, that it would help protect Luke and Han. The doors, finally meeting in the middle, sealed shut with awful metallic scraping noises. 

Celestio got no sleep that night, nor did Artie. They sat in the main control room, waiting. Celestio was unsure if it was morning they were waiting for, or a response from one or both of their missing party members. Perhaps both, or whichever came first. For once in his life, he was completely silent. 

When sunlight crept over the horizon, a team was quickly put together and sent out on speeders now that it was warm enough for their engines to work. Celestio listened to the radio anxiously. 

“Nice of you to finally drop by! Lovely weather, ain’t it?” Celestio never would have thought that Han’s sarcastic voice could bring him so much joy. 

“Captain Solo! I see you down there, hang tight; we’ll grab both of you in just a bit.” 

Luke’s recovery took longer than expected, three days to be exact, though nobody blamed him. Celestio worried over his friend like a concerned mother, stopping by at least once every hour to check on him, usually dragging Artie along with him. He couldn’t help it; he’d never had this much of a sort of family before, and he wanted to protect it. 

“Maybe we could stop in again? Just to make sure, you know; those medical droids can only do so much, after all. The poor boy’s probably in terrible pain and – “ 

“Threets, he’s fine.” Artie put a hand on his shoulder, stilling him. 

“I know, but…” 

“He’ll be okay, he’s already all healed. They’re just keeping him in another day to be on the safe side.” 

“I know.” Celestio sighed, sitting back down. Despite how tired he felt, he hadn’t been able to sleep all that much recently. He wanted to, but his mind wouldn’t allow it, always racing from one thought to another, letting him know just how things could go wrong at every turn and how there was nothing he could do about it. 

“ – ight be gone for a little bit. Hey, hey, were you listening?” 

“What?” 

“Threets, I swear to the stars. You’re supposed to be the one yelling at me for not listening. Now, I said that Luke and I might have to go to Dagobah – “ 

“Calling all pilots to their speeders, prepare for incoming Imperial ground assault!” came a voice over the crackling intercom. They exchanged looks before dashing to the control room. Celestio worried at his jacket sleeve throughout the entire exchange, even gasping a little when Luke announced over the comms that he had lost his gunner, Dak. Before they could hear the end of the attack, however, Artie was ushered off to get ready to assist Luke in his X-wing while Celestio was assigned to one of the larger transports. They’d evacuated bases before, but never in this much of a hurry; it felt as if Vader himself were breathing down all of their necks. 

“Mistress Leia, we really must be getting to our transport! It’s due to leave any moment and – “ 

“Hang on, hang on,” Leia barked a few more orders at some control board techs “alright, lead the way.” 

“It should be down near this part of the hanger, I – oh goodness!” Celestio stepped back just in time for a pile of packed snow roofing to collapse in front of them, followed by a hearty rumble from the surface accompanied by the lights dimming significantly. “Great stars, was that the power generator?” 

“Hey, where y’all headed?” Han shouted from beside his ship 

“To our transport! And what are you still doing here, you’ve got clearance to leave!” Leia shouted back, trying to figure out an alternate route to the other side of the base. 

“Listen, I know you’re still mad at me for whatever reason, but come on let me give you a ride.” 

“We’re perfectly fine, thank you.” Leia retorted, folding her arms. 

“Mistress Leia, I think perhaps that in this instance we should – “ Celestio was interrupted by Leia’s communicator, which had spouted static for a moment then announced that imperial troops had broken into the base, to which Celestio began gently tugging Leia in the direction of the Millennium Falcon. She sighed and allowed him to escort her onto the ship, notifying the person on the other end of her communicator that she and Celestio were leaving safely. 

“Alright, let’s get this baby up and running!” Han exclaimed, heading into the cockpit with Chewie, followed by Leia and Celestio. Han smashed a button with gusto and…nothing happened. He pushed it again, furrowing his brow, and the Falcon let out a whine of protest. 

“Did you leave the parking break on?” Leia mocked, rolling her eyes. 

“Don’t start, princess.” Han shot her a glare “Keep trying, Chewie, I’ll go see what’s wrong.” And with that he hurried off to the main console of the ship. 

From where Celestio sat, he was just glad that they were in a ship at this point, though he admitted he would feel even better if they could get it moving. After a few minutes of fiddling around with different controls, Chewie flipped a lever slowly, and the ship rumbled to life. 

“There she goes!” Han yelled from elsewhere in the ship. They sped out of the hanger without hesitation, and Celestio wondered if perhaps they had narrowly escaped what could have been a disastrous situation. 

“Where we headed to, princess? Still the same rendezvous point?” 

“Yes, and stop calling me that.” 

“Sure thing, princess.” Han grinned back, plugging in the coordinates and hitting the hyperspeed switch. As before, nothing happened. “Damn. Come on, girl, don’t give up on us now.” Chewie yowled out a string of sounds, to which Han responded with an exasperated “I don’t know!”

Suddenly remembering a conversation with Artie about a week ago, Celestio blurted out “Have you checked on the hyperdrive motivator recently?” 

Han gave him a slow look. “No?” 

“Maybe you should?” 

“Sure…Chewie, keep weaving between those destroyers.” Chewbacca yowled as Han left the cockpit, looking over his shoulder “I don’t know, just don’t tear us apart!” An agonizingly slow minute passed until Han shot back into the cockpit, hearing a few blaster shots bounce off the side of the hull. “Stop hurting my ship!” Celestio wasn’t sure if Han was addressing Chewie or the imperial fighters that were after them. “Chewie, point us towards that destroyer.” A growl “Yes, I know, just do it!” another growl “Trust me, pal.” Chewie relented and positioned the ship to be headed directly for the nose of the nearest Star Destroyer. 

“You better know what you’re doing, fly boy.” Leia said, looking worriedly at the rapidly-approaching ship. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Han said absent-mindedly, laser focused on the view port. It appeared to everyone that he had lost his mind and had decided to collide with the ship. Celestio saw Leia about to stand up and say some strong words to Han moments before the Falcon veered sharply to the right and quickly docked onto the backside of the Destroyer. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief when no imperial fighters appeared from around the corner. 

“That was…” Celestio didn’t know how to finish, and so trailed off, starstruck. 

“It sure was, kid.” Han said, patting him on the head. 

“I am most assuredly over twenty years your senior, Mr. Solo, and you are to treat me as such!” 

“Whatever you say.” Han rubbed his chin “I reckon the fleet’ll disperse and go into lightspeed soon. Now, they’ll wanna get rid of any extra weight before doing that, and we just happen to be right next to the waste chute, so when they let it out we can detatch and float out – “ 

“ – with the rest of the garbage.” Leia finished. “You do have your moments, Han. Not often, but you do have them.” She said warmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“That sure is a lot, coming from you.” Han said, putting a hand over hers and winking. 

“And the moment has now ended.” 

“If anybody needs me, I shall be out in the common area.” Celestio announced, standing up and walking out. He wanted absolutely no part in whatever was happening in that cockpit. 

He sat on one of the benches, lost in thought. He hoped Artie was okay, wherever he was; most likely still with Luke. Celestio forced himself to not think about Luke and Artie’s ship getting shot by an imperial fighter, causing them to spiral down to some godforsaken planet with an explosion not even a droid could have survived – 

A thud on the hull of the ship broke his concentration. It hadn’t been too loud, only just enough to send a short echo through the main cabin. Perhaps it had only been a small asteroid, or it was that the fleet had dispensed their waste, like Han said they would. Either way, Celestio came to the conclusion that it was nothing of importance, not worth worrying over. He sat where he was for a time, mulling over their possibilities. The rebellion hadn’t many allies out in this area of the galaxy, let alone anyone who would be willing to take them in no questions asked. Hearing the Falcon detatch from the side of the Destroyer, Celestio wondered just where they were planning on going. 

“Glad ya asked, kid! We’re headin’ for Bespin, just two systems over!” came Han’s shout from the cockpit. Celestio flushed, not realizing he’d been talking aloud. 

“How long will that take?” Celestio eventually replied. 

“With the hyperdrive motivator busted, I’d say maybe five days? Might be able to push it to four, we’ll see.” 

Celestio set about searching the ship for something to do, catching snippets of conversation about a city in the clouds and a man named Rando Calrissian, or had it been Lando? It didn’t matter much to Celestio, as long as they found somewhere they were safe. Finding close to nothing of interest in the entire ship, Celestio settled on reading the cracked and dusty operating manual for the ship. Even with the days he spent reading it, the engineering jargon was a bit too much for him to make any sense of. He scolded himself, knowing he should be able to get at least a basic grasp on the meaning, it was in a Galactic-standard language after all! Just as he was about to go into a riveting chapter about the ship’s air filters and their maintenance, Han yelled out for everyone to be ready to land. Celestio figured he was as ready as he would ever be, but smoothed out his jacket just in case this Mr. Calrissian was worth trying to impress, and headed into the cockpit. 

“There it is, Cloud City. Damn, I haven’t been here in…how long ago was it?” Han turned to Chewbacca for an answer, getting a drawn-out yowl “Shit…I’m sure he’s forgotten about that by now, right?” 

“How do we know we can trust this man?” Leia asked, eyeing the group of people already waiting for them on the landing pad. 

“Look, he’s an old friend of mine! I’m sure he’ll be happy to see me again.” Han ignored a pointed look from Chewie. 

They landed without any fuss, and Celestio followed the rest of his party out of the ship. He observed Han shaking hands, then laughing with and hugging a dark-skinned man; Mr. Calrissian, he assumed. Perhaps he was also an Andorian? 

“Lando, can I ask a favor? The Falcon’s pretty beat up, needs a new hyperdrive motivator. Don’t ask how, I ain’t got an answer for ya.” Han said, pulling back from the hug. 

“Aw, what happened to my ship, Han?” Lando joked, motioning two of his employees to go assess the ship for damage. 

“Hey, I won that bet fair and square!” 

“And how are you doin’, Chewbacca? This scoundrel treating you alright?” Lando said to Chewie, getting a hearty string of barks and yowls in response, making him smile. “I don’t believe I’ve been introduced to either of you before,” he said, looking over Leia and Celestio. 

“This is – “ Han began, being nudged aside gently by Leia. 

“Leia, pleased to meet you.” She said, shaking Lando’s outstretched hand. 

“The pleasure is all mine, Leia.” Lando smiled back. 

“I am Celestio Therren Threets, linguist and behavioral analyst, it is nice to meet you Mr. Calrissian.” Celestio shook Lando’s hand firmly when it was offered to him. “Pardon me, I must ask…are you also Andorian?” 

“Am I what?” Lando blinked in confusion. 

“I’ve only met a couple others of my species, sir, most of which happened to be on Coruscant. We tend to be few and far between, that is. I am still hopeful for the discovery of where we originated from, though progress is slow and – “ 

“You’re not human?” Han interjected, looking lost. 

“What? No, of course not, I’ve mentioned being Andorian before. As I was saying, we – “ 

“Yeah, but I thought that was some family affiliation or something, not…a whole different type of critter, you know?” 

“I suppose we share a remarkable amount of traits with humans, yes…” Celestio trailed off, suddenly remembering Artie, who was probably parsecs away by now. 

“To answer your question, Celestio, I am indeed human,” Lando laughed “but I would love to hear more about you and your people later! Let us go inside, and I’ll have some rooms set up for you four.” Celestio nodded, and they all followed him into what looked like a hybrid elevator and speeder; they were carried down from the landing pad, and then sped over to an adjacent outside platform. They were led out of the lift and through a door. Celestio thanked the stars that he was inside once again, not on any sort of ship or moving platform. He refrained from reminding himself that Cloud City was suspended in the dense atmosphere of the planet, and therefore not really on any sort of ground. He marveled at the structure of the hallway they walked down, the windows seemed one with the wall; not a seam in sight. And oh, what a view it was. Puffy clouds reflected amber light from the system’s star, casting a warm glow over the walls. 

“ – fortunate enough to not have any imperial entanglement.” Lando was talking about his small city in the clouds, Celestio gathered. 

“How’s that?” Leia asked, interested. 

“We’re small and so out of the way that the empire hadn’t had any reason to come out here to check on us. We’re strictly a gas mining colony, very under the radar. Makes for a very peaceful life for all of us here.” Celestio caught one of Lando’s employees giving him a concerned look, which Lando appeared to casually brush off. “Here we are. It’s not much, but it should sleep you all comfortably. I’ll have somebody up soon with some clothes for you to choose from, and then we’ll leave you to get settled.” Lando said, showing them into a lavish apartment. 

“Stars, it’s huge…” Celestio said quietly, taking in the elegant décor. He wanted to explore each and every room, though at the same time didn’t want to be seen as rude by leaving suddenly when the man had just graciously allowed them to stay in such a place. 

“I’ll go see to it that the Falcon’s getting proper treatment,” Lando said to Han, politely motioning his employees to leave the room “and Han, don’t do anything stupid.” He winked, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. 

“Now what’s that supposed to mean, eh?” Han grumbled, sitting down on one of the many plush white chairs. 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Leia sighed, sitting down next to him “could it be that, in knowing you for so long, Lando knows how reckless the great Han Solo can be?” 

“Mm, ‘the great Han Solo’, I like the sound of that. I should get that printed on a mug.” Han said, kicking his feet up onto a small footstool and closing his eyes for a nap. 

They were coming up on their third day in Cloud City, and Celestio was beginning to get nervous. Lando kept assuring them that the Falcon was just particularly finnicky, which Han seemed to agree with, but something wasn’t settling well with Celestio. He could tell Leia was on edge too by the way she looked around the rooms with analyzing eyes. Maybe she was looking for a monitoring device, or maybe she was waiting for someone to jump out and attack them. Whatever the case, Celestio didn’t feel right. The city was too quiet to him, there didn’t seem to be any of the normal hustle and bustle of life that every other civilization – at least that he’d seen – had. He sat down on one of the plush couches, looking over at Leia’s vacant expression. 

“Mistress Leia?” 

“Yes, Celestio?” she turned to face him, and he noted the bags that had formed under her eyes. 

“Are you…alright? Are you sleeping adequately?” 

She sighed, leaning back in her chair. “To be frank, I am not. There’s something not right about this place, I know it. There’s something…” she pursed her lips, thinking for an appropriate word “…it’s almost as if I can feel it.” 

“I too feel that there is something wrong with this city. I’ve noticed it is far too quiet, even for a small colony such as this.” Celestio mused. Then, seeing the look on Leia’s face, added “Would you like me to go and find Mr. Solo?” 

“Thank you, Celestio, that would be much appreciated.” 

Wasting no time, Celestio left through the door and into the hallway, finding himself quite unsure of where to check first. He decided that out of all the possibilities, Han was almost certain to be somewhere in or near the Millennium Falcon. If that proved fruitless, he could always wander around the city listening for any sounds from Chewbacca. Glad to have a plan in place, Celestio forged ahead. Unfortunately, he had forgotten which way he should be going to get to the landing pad, and so skipped ahead to his second plan of wandering the empty hallways of Cloud City, in search of any sound or sign of his companions. 

He had been walking for what must have been half an hour, about to give up, when he heard a startingly distinct – yet unfamiliar – string of sounds. It was like no other language he had ever heard before, and certainly wasn’t anything close to any of the outer-ring slang he knew of. Curious, he followed the voice into a more dimly lit hallway. This part of the city seemed like it hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned for a while, he noticed, sidestepping a small pile of trash leaning against the wall. 

He was tempted to turn back, but the voice was in fact getting closer, or rather he was getting closer to the voice, and he was determined to see what sort of being this language belonged to. Rounding a corner, Celestio noted a faint glow coming from a doorway not too far down, and realization dawned on him. The dirty hallway, the dim light, the overall unkempt-ness of the area – odd were that he had managed to find his way into the waste management facilities sector of the city. He wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointed or not, and when he poked his head through the doorway to see once and for all where the voice was coming from, he was shocked to see it was many voices. Short, squat, squish-faced beings worked alongside one another in a sort of assembly line, vocalizing what Celestio could only assume was their language’s way of making music. He sighed and turned to leave, knowing he should get back to trying to find Han, when he heard the sound of boots approaching. 

“Do you have permission to be in this sector?” he turned to see a group of five or six stormtroopers in front of him. 

“Dear me, I’m dreadfully sorry, I only just got here and seem to have gotten lost,” he glanced around “I really should be going now, I don’t mean to have upset you gentlemen but I – “ he made a move to leave and the troopers trained their weapons on him unflinchingly “ – or I will stay here, yes it seems that I will be staying here just please don’t shoot – “ he had barely enough time to put his hands up before a searing pain shot up from his leg accompanied by a ringing in his ears. He registered the feeling of the cold floor against his cheek and indistinct shouting that seemed far, far away, the world fading away slowly into nothingness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ngl I had a hard time trying to figure out how uhhhhhhhhh Celestio would get incapacitated, like ripping his limbs off sounds pretty extreme when he's not a droid, yknow?

The same cold feeling was with him when he awoke. No, it was indeed cold but a different texture…smooth, yes. Metal, some sort of metal. Celestio hadn’t the will to try opening his eyes yet, and his limbs felt too heavy to move. With his eyes closed, however, he could tell that the room he was in was dark. That, or he had suddenly gone blind, which didn’t bother him as much as it would have in any other situation. He heard a soft snuffling from about a meter away, and concluded that at least one other someone was in there with him. On closer inspection, he found it to be snoring. Stars, was he sore. Without thinking, he made a move to shift his legs slightly. Instantly, white-hot pain shot up the length of his left leg, causing him to cry out. An ominous growl shut him up, and he carefully opened an eye to take a peek at what had made the noise. 

“Chewbacca!” he managed to rasp out, wanting to lift his head but not daring to move again so soon. A sorrowful yowl confirmed his suspicions. “Where is Han? And mistress Leia?” he was met with silence. “Dear me…no…no, they wouldn’t have…I can’t imagine…” Celestio grimaced as his mind brought forth various worst-case scenarios. Leia, sprawled out dead on the couch, blaster shot to the chest. Han, slumped over the Falcon’s controls with a gash in his head. He shuddered, his body wanting to curl in on itself, which he obeyed as much as his leg allowed. 

The Wookie across from him eyed him moving, then made a soft chuffing noise and held up a raggedy garment of some sort. 

“I am still trying to grasp the fundamentals of Shyriiwook, Chewbacca, and am not capable of understanding you very well.” Celestio wanted to be able to at least understand the Wookie language, but found it one of the more difficult structures to learn properly. Sure, individual words were one thing, but full sentences… 

“Just what are you doing there, please be careful my leg is very – “ Celestio let out a cry as Chewie lifted his injured leg up a few inches. Through squinted eyes, he could see a furred paw wrapping the fabric around his left calf, acting as a bandage. When it was done, Chewie gently set down his leg and backed off a couple inches. 

“Thank you.” Celestio said hoarsely, still reeling from the pain. He winced when the Wookie gave him what he figured was supposed to be a comforting pat on the leg, but perhaps it would have been more appreciated had it been a pat on his uninjured one. 

They sat in an uneasy silence for what felt like hours. Celestio hadn’t a watch to tell him how long it had actually been, and to be honest he wasn’t sure whether or not knowing the time would make him feel any better. He had been on the brink of dosing off when a loud clink echoed through the room, and a figure was shoved inside. Chewbacca jumped up to stand between Celestio and the figure, giving the person an experimental sniff before yowling in delight and wrapping his arms around them. 

“Heya, buddy. Yeah, I’m feelin’ like shit.” Han’s voice was muffled from the massive fur carpet embracing him. 

“Mr. Solo! A relief to see you alive and well, oh thank the maker.” Celestio watched as Han sat down on the floor. “Have you any idea about where Mistress Leia is?” Another loud clink from the opposite side of the room, and another figure was shoved in. “Ah.” 

“Celestio? Is that you?” 

“Yeah, we’re all here now I think.” Han grunted out, sounding exhausted. “How’re you holding up?” 

“I’m…” Leia paused for a moment to sit down next to him, leaning a head on his shoulder “…well enough.” She moved away slightly after feeling him flinch, concern written across her face “Han, are you…?” 

“Fine, yeah I’m okay.” He dragged a hand down his face, rubbing his temples “They didn’t even ask me any questions, fuck’s sake…what in the hell do they want?” 

“I don’t know.” Leia sighed. “They sure want something, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing this. If only Luke were here…” 

“He’d be suffering the same fate as us, I fear.” Celestio said softly, mind drifting over to Artie. 

“I’ll bet it’d make you a whole lot happier to have him here instead of me.” Han said under his breath, leaning back against the wall. 

“Excuse me?” Leia gave him a shocked expression, turning to stare at him. 

“You heard me. Every time I saw you at Echo Base, you was either lookin’ at him or talkin’ about him, and not a whole lot else. Give it up, princess, you’re sweet on him and we all know it.” 

She scrunched up her nose, making a face. “I couldn’t think of anything farther from the truth. Just because I care for someone does not mean I wish to be romantically entangled with them!” 

“If you’re gonna say something, say it in a way we’ll all understand, princess!” Han’s gaze was heated and angry, almost daring Leia to continue. 

“Fine. I hold no feelings for Luke besides friendly, familial affection. Does that please you, your highness?” she scoffed, turning her back to him. 

“I, uh…” Han gaped for a moment, not knowing what to say. He hadn’t been counting on a turn in the conversation quite like this. 

“Sorry to interrupt this, erm…” Celestio glanced between the two of them “…debate, but do either of you know where master Luke actually went? Artie mentioned something about them not going to the rendezvous, though that was before the attack on the base and – “ 

“He didn’t go to the rendezvous point?” Han asked in disbelief. 

“No, he was very adamant about going to Dagobah for personal reasons. If you were any sort of decent friend, maybe you would have known that.” Leia snapped. 

“Hey, I’m sorry, okay! It’s not like I wanted to leave, I had a debt to pay off!” 

“Right. And you chose that over staying with us to further a worthwhile cause. Understandable.” 

“Don’t be like that!” 

“Don’t be like what?” 

Celestio decided that for the sake of his mental health, it was best if he tuned out of their bickering and tried to go to sleep. He woke with a start sometime during the night (day? afternoon? he couldn’t be sure), aware that the dream he’d been having had been disturbing, though the more he opened his eyes the more details of it he forgot. He looked around, and saw that his three companions were either asleep or trying their best to rest. A pile of fuzz he identified as Chewbacca rose up and down with the deep breaths of sleep, and against the far wall he could barely make out the outlines of Leia and Han, the latter with his head resting in the lap of the former. He vaguely remembered that they had been fighting earlier, perhaps they had made up by now. Eventually, he found his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, and allowed sleep to come over him once again. 

A metal clink woke him some time later. Celestio looked around to see Leia and Han, no longer laying on one another, looking at one of the cell’s doors in surprise. 

“Lord Vader is requesting your presence. All of you.” Lando looked as if he had just bitten down on a rotten fruit. “The plans have…changed. If you come with me, I might be able to negotiate your safety, at least to an extent.” 

“Look who’s trying to be all buddy-buddy now. Lemme tell ya somethin’ Lando, I don’t give a gorgon’s ass what you do here and who you do business with, but you…” Han stood up weakly, still very much sore from earlier torturing “never in my life have a met someone who’d so readily betray a friend.” He spat, trying to swing at Lando with a closed fist. It didn’t work out in Han’s favor, however, as he lost balance and had to be caught by Chewie to avoid falling to the ground. 

“I did what I had to do, doesn’t mean that I’m proud of it.” Lando hissed, gesturing to the small group of employees behind him “I have an entire city to look after, hundreds of people looking to me for protection. I had to make a choice, Han.” 

“And you chose the one that was the least dangerous for you.” Leia said indignantly. 

“Think whatever you want. I’m doing the best I can.” Lando motioned for a few of the employees to bind the group’s hands together. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Calrissian.” Celestio piped up, getting a piercing stare from Lando. He didn’t like that one bit. “I-I have barely much function walking properly at the moment, would it not make sense to leave me unbound so that I may keep up with following your demands?” Celestio ignored the incredulous look from Han, trying not to turn away from Lando’s gaze. Lando sighed, and motioned his employee away from Celestio. Chewbacca growled something to Han. 

“Hell if I know. Celestio can you even move with your leg like that?” 

“To be quite honest, sir, I hadn’t tried yet.” Celestio tried to stand up, and after a few agonizing minutes of everyone watching him try to hoist himself up with the help of the wall, Chewie growled and shuffled over to him, picking him up. “Oh, thank you…you know, you don’t have to – “ 

“Shut up, kid.” Han said, being led out of the room with a blaster pointed into his back. 

“Yes sir.” Celestio said quickly, not wanting to bring himself any more unwanted attention. 

They were led through hallways and down several flights of stairs, arriving at what could have passed for the city’s basement. Had it been a city firmly attached to the ground, that is. Celestio looked around the room at much as he could while being uncomfortably nestled in Chewbacca’s arms. He saw a strange machine; it looked like a food packager, but much larger than any he had ever seen before. 

“ – is put into suspended animation until the product arrives at its destination, Lord Vader.” Lando finished explaining the machine to the large black-clad figure. 

“That suits my needs perfectly. However, I will need to test it to ensure that young Skywalker will not die before he gets to the Emperor.” 

“You’re putting a person in there? Lord Vader, this was made for perishable goods, not – “ 

“You are taking back your agreement?” 

Lando shuffled nervously, looking around, “No, I – “ 

“Good. I would hate to see such a prosperous city wiped from the galaxy because of a misplaced word.” Vader turned to face a fully armored figure, who Celestio placed as a bounty hunter judging by his choice of weapons. 

“This will not end well for any of us. Han, if I die and you live, tell the alliance – “ Leia whispered to Han, getting cut off 

“If you die then I’ll be right behind you. I ain’t letting them take you down without a fight, though.” Han whispered back fiercely, leaving Leia at a loss for words. 

Lando cautiously walked over to the four of them, eyeing Vader and the bounty hunter as they carried on with their discussion. 

“Hey buddy.” Han said as he approached. “What’s happening, eh?” 

“They’re going to freeze you in carbonite.” Lando said stiffly, face tinged a sickly grey. 

“Can’t fucking wait.” Han allowed two stormtroopers to grab him by the shoulders, much to Chewie’s dismay; the Wookie flung himself at one of them, balancing Celestio precariously in one arm. 

“Chewbacca stop that this instant!” Celestio squeaked out, nearly crying from having his leg crushed against Chewie’s body. 

“Hey! Chewie, look at me.” Han barked, shrugging off a stormtrooper. “You’ll only make things worse. Hey, look at me! Save your strength, buddy, there’ll be another day. You’ve gotta protect them now. Is that making it through your fur, eh wise guy?” Chewie chuffed at him and gave him a quick hug – unfortunately for Celestio, who once again found himself crushed – and backed off. Celestio looked over at Han just in time to see him dip forwards and kiss Leia. It didn’t look like a particularly good kiss, but it seemed to be what both of them had been waiting for. 

The two troopers positioned Han to stand in just the right spot to be lowered into the machine. As they were about to turn it on, Leia burst out with a sudden “I love you.” 

“I know.” Han said, closing his eyes as the platform he was standing on began its descent. 

“Stars, I can’t look.” Celestio whispered, covering his eyes. Upon opening them, he was met with a large rectangular slab of metal. Protruding from it was the figure of Han, face twisted in pain. Celestio decided he no longer wished to look at that part, and shifted his gaze to the monitoring screens on the bottom. 

“Well?” the bounty hunter said harshly, looking pointedly at Lando. 

“He survived,” Celestio let out a breath at hearing that “to revive him all you need to do is – “ Lando was cut off by the bounty hunter holding a hand up. 

“No need for that, I like him as is. See to it that he’s loaded onto my ship.” 

Lando nodded, gesturing two of his employees to complete the task. The rest he had follow him to lead Leia, Chewie, and Celestio back in the direction of their cell. He frowned when several stormtroopers joined them, but continued on down the corridor. Turning the corner, Celestio spotted a familiar figure walking across the plaza, going towards the structure they had just exited. 

“Luke! Don’t!” Leia shouted, causing Luke to spin around in confusion. She was quickly pulled along by a stormtrooper with minimal struggling, though Celestio saw the fire in her eyes. Celestio tried to look back, swearing he could’ve seen another figure walking somewhere behind Luke, but had no say in how fast Chewbacca chose to walk and soon they were out of view.   
They rounded another corner and, faster than a shot, Lando swung around and pointed the barrel of his blaster to the head of the nearest stormtrooper, his company doing the same. He quietly instructed them to disarm the troopers and put them off into a cell. 

“What are you doing?” Leia hissed at him as he undid her cuffs. 

“Trying to make up for lack of judgement.” He finished with hers and went to uncuff Chewie. There was silence for a half second then an ear-shattering roar and, in a split second, Celestio was on the floor and Lando was against the wall, both of Chewie’s paws wrapped around his throat. “H..ad… no…. ch…oice….” He rasped, feet dangling in the air. 

“That’s right, you had no choice whatsoever.” Leia said coldly, picking up a discarded blaster. Chewie growled in agreement. 

“H…an…..” Lando went to try again, coughing instead. 

“What?” 

“There…..still….chan…ce……to s…ave….Han….” 

“Show us.” Leia nodded her head and Chewie released him. Eyes still trained on Lando, she helped Celestio to his feet – or foot, rather; his left leg had proven itself to still be absolutely useless. 

“Chewbacca…I hate to be a bother, especially with everything going on, but – “ with a yowl, Celestio was back in Chewie’s arms, this time with his left leg to the outside. Hopefully, he thought, that would mean less leg crushing. 

After catching his breath, Lando led them to the pad opposite to the Falcon. 

“The bounty hunter’s just getting ready to take off, we should be just in – “ 

The ship’s engines roared to life, and Leia wasted no time in slamming the hanger doors open to fire at the craft. The beams bounced harmlessly off of the hull, and soon the ship was through the atmosphere and off into space. 

“We’ll find some other way. Right now, we need to find Luke and get off this damn planet.” She commanded. 

“There’s not enough time – “ Lando tried hard not to crumple under Leia’s stare “ – look, either we stay here and get killed, or we can escape and try to help your friend afterwards. Either way, I need to warn my people.” He tapped an indent on the wall, and a number pad with a corded communicator slid out on a rod. He quickly put in a code and spoke into the communicator, voice wavering; “Attention citizens, this is Calrissian speaking. The City is under Imperial threat, find your families and leave as soon as possible. Be swift, but safe.” 

Celestio thought it rather honorable that, despite how he had betrayed them by just handing them over to the Empire like it was nothing, Lando still had it in him to warn the city. Perhaps if he hadn’t betrayed them, he would think rather highly of him. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” Leia said after a moment of hesitation, and the group ran over to the hanger the Falcon was being kept in. Lando pressed a couple of buttons, and the number pad buzzed at him. He frowned. 

“The bastards locked me out of the system!” 

“Could we blast it?” Leia asked, cocking her blaster. Lando looked at her, horrified, and explained how that would short-circuit the entire system or something like that…to be honest, Celestio’s mind had begun wandering, perhaps due to the amount of pain he was currently in. A blaster shot from the corridor behind them snapped him back to reality, and he braced himself to see a squadron of stormtroopers coming to capture them again. Oddly, as the plodding of footsteps got closer, he realized that it was only one set of feet. Fairly small feet, at that. 

“Artie! Thank the maker, oh stars it’s so good to – “ 

“Love you too, Threets,” Celestio could feel his heart beating out of his chest, “but there’s about twelve troopers back there and I think they’re angry at me for some reason so let’s get a move on. Why aren’t we going through these doors?” Artie said in one long breath. 

“Locked out, password protected entry.” Lando said, looking lost. 

“Ah, alright sounds dandy. Stand over there, yeah?” Artie got to work on the number pad, ripping off the face and poking at the wires inside. Leia did as Artie requested, tugging Chewie and Lando back against the wall with her. “Eyyyy here it is!” Artie swapped to wires, and the door burst open with a magnificent spark. “Aight, come on now!” he scampered into the Falcon, and the rest of the group wasted no time in following him in. Chewie gingerly placed Celestio on one of the benches and dashed off into the cockpit. 

“Chewie, warm up the ship.” Leia said, turning to Lando, “I hope your people fixed that hyperdrive like they said they would.” 

“They told me they finished on it a day ago.” Lando said curtly, sitting down in the cockpit behind Chewie. 

“Now, Luke’s still in there, so we can’t just leave – “ Artie started, looking through a viewport, eyes widening “yeah no change of plans, go go go go go!” Chewie yowled back at him, turning on the engines but not taking off yet. “Trust me, pal! Big ol’ guns pointed right at us! We can’t help Luke if we’re dead!” 

They took off from the landing pad, narrowly avoiding a shot from an impressively large ground blaster (could it still be called a ground blaster if there was no ground to attach it to, Celestio wondered). He was about to close his eyes when a familiar short figure caught his attention. 

“Hey Threets,” Artie sat down next to him. “What happened there?” 

“Where?” Celestio went to lean against him and Artie gently pushed him off. 

“Your leg, Threets.” 

“Ah, that.” He flushed. How in the stars could he have forgotten about that? Thinking about it, he found that it still throbbed just as much as before. “Blaster shot through the lower leg. Nothing serious but it hurts like you wouldn’t beli – “ 

“I’m so sorry, Threets.” Artie hugged him tightly, managing to not move his leg. “If I’d have known, I would’ve…I would’ve…y’know, I’m not sure what I would’ve done first, but it would’ve been something.” 

Lando breezed past them, looking to be in a hurry. He barely gave them a glance, focusing on where he was heading. Artie shrugged. 

“Anyway. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” 

“Artie, Luke needed you where he was, and there’s no way you could have stopped this from happening. I – “ Celestio almost toppled over when the ship suddenly lurched to the side, Artie catching him just in time. “Stars, what was that?” 

“They’ve got it under control. Let’s dress that wound properly now, yeah?” 

“This is the second time we’ve had to do this.” Celestio grumbled, wincing as he unwrapped the cloth from his leg. 

“Guess I’ll just always have to be there for ya, then.” Artie winked. 

“Is that a promise?” it came out as more of a plea than Celestio had intended. 

“You know it.” 

Celestio wanted to say something back, but Lando entered the room again, this time helping a slumped figure walk their way into the ship. The sandy hair bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain someone, Celestio realized. 

“Master Luke! Stars, he’s not hurt is he?” Celestio asked Lando, forgetting about his own injury for a moment. 

“He…his hand…” Lando swallowed hard “…his hand has been cut off. How, I don’t know. It’s been…it’s not bleeding, for now.” He nodded to the two of them and helped Luke into a nearby cabin, laying him down on a bed before returning to the cockpit. 

Angry squabbling from said cockpit caught both of their attentions. Celestio heard something from Leia about knowing she shouldn’t have trusted Lando, and a whine from Lando about how his people always performed admirable work, and so on. The periodic yowls of Chewbacca punctuated their arguing. 

“The damn motivator!” Artie growled, glaring at the ship’s main computer. “Hey Threets, I’ll be back in a minute, don’t be going anywhere yeah?” Artie finished off the sentence with a peck to Celestio’s cheek, then ripped up a grate in the flooring and disappeared into the engine space of the ship. Celestio shook his head and wondered just what he would do without that man, smiling and putting a hand to the cheek Artie had kissed. Stars, was he in love. 

“Destroyers gaining fast, Leia!” he heard Lando warn, followed by a sharp bark of ‘I know!’ from Leia. 

“If your people had actually fixed the ship, none of this would be happening! Damnit…keep trying, Chewie!” 

“It’s not my fault, they said they did!” 

Artie popped his head out of the hole in the floor, looking frazzled. “Do it again!” Celestio heard Chewbacca let out a particularly loud yowl and, to everyone’s surprise, the ship lurched into lightspeed. 

“Fucking superb, Artie!” Leia shouted over her shoulder, doing something with her hand and Chewie’s paw that looked to be a celebratory gesture. 

“Mistress Leia!” Celestio gasped, used to her reserving profanity for specially troubling occasions. Though, the more he considered it, this instance certainly fit that criteria. 

Artie hopped out and replaced the floor grate, wiping grease off his hands. He dashed off to another room for a moment, coming back with a small bowl of water and a clean cloth. 

“Alright, let’s get you cleaned up.” Artie said, sitting back down next to him. Celestio nodded, not particularly keen on the idea. He allowed Artie to do so anyway, sitting as still as he could. Artie gently rubbed around the wound, brushing dirt and dried blood off of his leg. When it came time to wash the injury itself, Celestio’s hand shot out to grab Artie’s forearm without thinking. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” 

“I…” Celestio breathed out, locking eyes with Artie. He slowly dropped his arm, giving the other man a weak nod. 

“It’ll be quick, I promise. Close your eyes.” 

Celestio did as he was told, tensing and bracing himself against the bench. He waited for a sharp sting for a fair few seconds, and when none came he opened an eye to find Artie already wrapping a bandage around his leg. 

“Oh yeah, you can open your eyes now.” Artie grinned at him, finishing the wrap. 

“That was…” Celestio gave his leg an experimental tap, and found that he felt nothing. “…much better than anticipated. Thank you.” 

“No problem, Threets. I feel like I need to take extra good care of you since I was gone for so long.” Artie admitted, looking to the now bloodied bowl of water on the table next to them. 

“I…I’ll be honest, I do not quite know how to reply to that.” Celestio said, begging his brain to give him anything else to say. After a minute, he seemed to settle on; “It wasn’t so long, though. Only about…a galactic week, maybe one and a half?” 

“Does that mean you didn’t miss me?” Artie said jokingly, letting Celestio lean his head on his shoulder. 

“No, the very opposite. I was worried for you the entire time, Artie.” Celestio stretched out, moving to laying his head in Artie’s lap. “You make it difficult to think sometimes, you know.” 

“Oh I do, do I?” he winked pointedly at Celestio, smiling. 

“Yes? I will be doing a task, and then think about how many ways you could get yourself into some sort of trouble and then – “ 

“Threets, think about it.” Artie gave him a long look, eyebrows wiggling up and down. 

“I don’t under…oh stars.” Leave it to his companion to make a sex joke after a life-threatening encounter with enemy forces, Celestio thought to himself. Had he cared to notice his flush, he would have found it quite pronounced across his face. “I...suppose…that sometimes,” he said slowly, knowing Artie was grinning like an idiot above him “…I do find myself thinking about you and I.” 

“…in what way?” Artie said cheekily, brushing his hands through Celestio’s hair. 

“Engaged in…acts…” Celestio swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry “…of…one might say, passion.” 

“Mm, I like that idea.” He hummed, continuing to scratch Celestio’s scalp soothingly. 

“…I do as well.” Celestio found himself saying, closing his eyes and relaxing. 

“What’s this? Mr. Celestio Therren Threets having lustful thoughts? At a time like this?! How scandalous!” 

“Hush.” Celestio gave Artie’s leg a swat, making the other man chuckle. 

“Yeah, yeah.”


	10. Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Didn't wanna put myself through writing my way through another whole-ass movie so uhhhhhhhh here's some more porn and a kind of sweet ending imo

They’d made it so far, they’d survived through it all. Celestio caught Artie’s gaze from across the bonfire, smiling as his partner danced with a very persistant Ewok. They may not be completely safe even with their most recent victory under their belts, but by god they were alive. 

“Hey you.” Artie panted, ramming into Celestio’s side when his Ewok companion went off to badger another resistance fighter for a dance. 

“Hey yourself.” Celestio smiled, pulling Artie close to him. Ah, he felt warm in the glow of the fire. 

“Oohoo, am I getting some rare Threets-initiated contact?” 

“You know I can stop if you – “ 

“Nope, no takebacks.” Artie chuckled, swinging him around against the back of a tree. “Now get down here so I can kiss you.” 

“Artie!” Celestio exclaimed in a loud whisper, nodding his head to the very much nearby fetivities. 

“Fiiiiiiiiine,” Artie sighed dramatically, dragging them behind another tree, this one a tad larger and farther away “better?” 

“…a little.” Celestio huffed, crossing his arms. “But I don’t see why we can’t wait until – “ 

He yelped as he was tugged down by the front of his shirt, lips connecting to Artie’s with far more force that necessary. 

“Artie – !” 

“Shh, what if someone hears us?” Artie said playfully, running a hand under his shirt. “I want you all to myself right now…” 

“You can’t just say things like that!” Celestio whined, leaning down to lay his head against Artie’s shoulder. “A-ah, keep doing that please…” 

“What was that?” Artie dragged his fingers up Celestio’s sides, pressing into him with a grin. He chuckled as Celestio squirmed against him, unintentionally rubbing their crotches together. 

“Nnnh, Artie please…” Celestio whined, already panting in anticipation. “H-here, I-I can…do this, it should make things easier…” 

He dropped down to his knees, shimmying out of his clothes and leaning back against the tree, tucking his pants underneath him to act as a sort of seat. He wanted Artie touching his ass, not a bunch of sharp sticks and leaves. Artie stared at him, mouth open in shock. 

“Stop…looking at me like that, you’re making me nervous.” Celestio flushed, looking to the side. “I love you, and I know you want me like this so…please – nnh!” he let out a gasp as Artie threw himself on top of him, pants hastily unbuckled on the way down. 

“God that’s hot, fucking stars – “ Artie cut himself off by slamming their lips together once more. Celestio let out a surprised squeak, squirming when a finger prodded around his entrance. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, we don’t have to right now.” Artie whispered softly, hand trailing up to Celestio’s erection. “We’ve got other things we can do if you want – “ 

“No, I want this.” Celestio breathed, squeezing his eyes shut. “I…I insist you be gentle, I haven’t ever…” 

Artie smirked, wetting one of his fingers in his mouth. “I’ll show you gentle, Threets.” 

Celestio had little time to reply as a finger entered him slowly. He gasped around it, lurching forwards into Artie with a grimace. It didn’t feel…bad, just weird. Not quite right, one could say. Still, he was determined to see it through to the end, and nodded when Artie prodded a second finger at his entrance. By the third intrusion, he was beginning to feel things. Good things. Especially when Artie curled his fingers just so, driving them deeper and somehow wider – perhaps he was stretching his fingers around? No matter the cause, Celestio found himself relaxing enough to let out pleasured noises again, even squeaking when Artie adjusted himself to an awkward position half-squatting over him. 

“You sure you wanna?” Artie asked, lining his cock up with Celestio’s entrance. 

“Stars, yes, you better not stop now that you’ve gotten me all riled up!” Celestio said sternly, shaking a finger at him. “If you don’t put that in me right now I swear I’ll – oh stars!” 

“Mm, what was that? You’ll what?” Artie rumbled, leaning down to kiss along his chest. 

“S-stop that – nnnh – you know perfectly well what I – oh!” Celestio keened at Artie snapping his hips forward, burying himself deep in his hole. 

“Do I?” Artie mused, setting a slow rhythm. “I don’t know if I do…enlighten me?” 

“You’re – nnah! – impossible – hnna…” Celestio moaned out, eyes fluttering closed. Artie’s hands roaming over him so softly combined with the gentle thrusts – Celestio knew he wouldn’t last long like that. 

As it turned out, he came almost a second after having that thought. Not that he really noticed, he was too busy with the way Artie sped up and placed kisses on his face to realize that he’d dirtied up his and his lover’s chest. 

Artie came soon after, groaning into Celestio’s shoulder and squeezing the man tightly around the middle. 

Celestio must have fallen asleep at some point, for he awoke fully-clothed and in what he recognized as an Ewok hut, a warm presence at his side. 

“Mmm?” a groggy Artie picked his head up off the bed to blink sleepily at Celestio. 

“I love you.” Celestio whispered, kissing the man’s forehead. Artie murmured something in response, though his words were muffled by the blankets. Celestio chuckled, gently locating one of his hands and giving it a squeeze before closing his eyes once more. 

They would keep surviving. They would endure. He smiled to himself, hugging Artie closer to his chest. They’d been through so much already, what else could the universe possibly throw at them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, odds are i'll probably never add on to this so yeet yoot hope u enjoyed


	11. Omegaverse One-shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you've read artie and celestio fuckin, but have u read them fuckin as an alpha and an omega? not yet ya haven't, and im here to change that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alpha Artie and Omega Celestio :3

Celestio tapped his foot impatiently. He’d been waiting to hear back from the exploration team for at least two days now, and -of course- Artie had to be out there with them. Was it important to know more about the planet they’d chosen as a temporary base of operations for the whole rebellion? Yes. Was it necessary? Yes. Did Celestio like his alpha being away from him for so long? Certainly NOT. 

His agitated scent had probably alerted others into staying out of the control room, which was fine by him. There hadn’t been any problems in their latest set-up thus far, and honestly he would rather be alone. He knew he was being unreasonable in expecting Artie to be able to be around for his heat, but damnit he needed his alpha Right Now. 

The next two days came and went, and Celestio stayed stubbornly in his chair throughout. When the exploration team greeted him finally, his only response was a curt ‘report to the admiral’. He tossed the headset aside, huffing and returning to his room. His heat had come and gone, and he had barely done anything to relieve it, naively waiting for his alpha to come help him. Well, now that he had some time alone, he could just as well take care of himself! 

Ensuring the door was closed, Celestio carefully stepped out of his clothing and slid into his bed, cheeks flushing. Every heat it was the same, Artie was either away or just unable to get to his omega in time to relieve him. 

“Threets?” the door swished open, making Celestio freeze. “Hey, sorry about taking so long out there, we found this neat meteor that – uh…” 

There was no talking himself out of the position he was in, stripped naked and his dick in his hand, cunt already starting to drip in arousal. Still, Celestio made an effort to swing a blanket over his bare form, squealing in surprise at Artie’s sudden entrance. 

“A-about time you showed up!” Celestio’s voice raised an octave higher than normal. “I’ll have you know that my heat cropped up just as you were leaving, and – “ 

Artie grinned, closing the door and plunging the room back into darkness. “I know, I could smell ya…your heats are six days right?” 

“Yes, I – “ Celestio froze. Stars, it had only been five days, hadn’t it?! Oh lord, oh stars, that’s why he’d been so overreactive about…well, everything! Not that he wasn’t an overreactive person at the best of times, but sometimes his omegan hormones really kicked in to jump his emotions up ten or so levels and – “Artie!” 

“Yeah?” Artie looked up from shucking his pants off, letting them fall to the floor so he could step out of them. 

“I-I didn’t say you could just – “ 

“Right, right.” Artie cleared his throat, flinging his shirt off. “Ahem. Threets, wanna fuck?” 

Celestio sputtered, finding it difficult to string words together now that his alpha was bare before him. “T-that’s not what I – Artie you – stars, have some tact!” 

“Mm, I can do that.” 

Celestio sucked in a breath as Artie vaulted onto the bed and crawled up beside him. The smaller man trailed a hand down his side, making Celestio shiver involuntarily. He gasped as Artie brushed teasingly over his cunt, holding back a moan when he dipped into his folds a bit with his fingers. 

“Will my omega let me apologize for not being there for the start of his heat?” Artie whispered, slowly thrusting two fingers in and out of Celestio’s heat-slickened cunt. 

“Y-yes…you better treat me right though, or I might just – nnh!” Celestio keened as another finger was added, the three now wiggling inside him deliciously. 

“What was that?” 

“Haah…Artie…” Celestio breathed, wriggling out of his alpha’s grasp enough so that he could lay on his back and present himself properly. He flushed under Artie’s hungry gaze, though didn’t dare look away. 

“Got myself a beauty right here…damn…” Artie said quietly, pinching Celestio’s inner thigh. Celestio mewled, spreading his legs even wider as an invitation. 

“Please – nh!” 

All at once Artie was on him, kissing his neck wildly and sliding into his cunt. Celestio almost shrieked, the only thing holding him back being the embarrassment of someone hearing their lovemaking. Not that he was ashamed of having carnal desires, no, every omega had those urges, it was just that he’d rather his private affairs be kept private if there was anything he could do about – 

“A-artie!” he cried out, closing his eyes as Artie pounded harder into him. 

“G-good boy, Threets,” Artie panted, placing sloppy kissed along his jawline “such a good omega, will you let your alpha finish inside?” 

“Y-yes! Please, alpha!” had he been in any sort of calm sort of mind, Celestio would have been embarrassed at how whiny he sounded, but in that moment all he wanted was his alpha’s cum filling his cunt. 

Artie thrust in one last time, grunting out something incoherent against Celestio’s lips. Celestio moaned at the feeling of being filled, panting slightly from keeping up with his lover’s thrusts. 

“You didn’t finish, did you?” Artie said tiredly, already pulling out with a pop. 

“N-no, not y – eep!” Celestio squealed as Artie descended upon his cock, taking it in his mouth with little effort. “A-artie you – nnnh!” 

“Mhmm?” Artie gestured vaguely, slurping up and down his omega’s cock as he stared him down. Celestio whined, letting himself go and moaning as loud as his body wanted him to. Quicker than he’d like to admit, he came in his alpha’s mouth with a loud moan, toes curling into the sheets. 

Artie crawled up beside his omega, purring against his chest as he embraced him. “Good?” 

“Mhm.” Celestio mumbled, tiredness overtaking him. “All is forgiven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like how i said in the last chapter that I probably wouldn't be adding onto this and here I am, adding onto it lmao


End file.
